RCA Fine Art Students Bring the Unexpected to Cowley Manor

While the White Rabbit or Mad Hatter might not be anywhere to be seen, Cowley Manor’s 55 acres of woods, lakes, meadows and natural springs are currently home to the no less astonishing additions of an Easter Island statue and pair of oversized gumboots – just two of the new artworks created especially for the hotel’s grounds by Royal College of Art students.

Contemporary art has been at the heart of Cowley Manor’s vision since it opened in 2002, with its Grade-II-listed gardens becoming a source of inspiration to successive waves of artists and designers. This relationship has continued to flourish since 2012, when the hotel’s owners, Jessica and Peter Frankopan, established the Cowley Manor Art Prize.

As in previous years, the six shortlisted works on display had to be whittled down from a long list of over 30 initial proposals. Students responded to a brief that stretches back to antiquity: to think about sculpture in landscape. They also had to devise something that was sympathetic to the needs of a working hotel (obtrusive or lengthy installs were off the cards), where the trees and garden architecture are listed. Shortlisted ideas were realised within the RCA’s Sculpture programme, with the fabrication of individual pieces supported by the College’s excellent technical staff.

The judging panel, drawn from across the contemporary art world, had the unenviable task of choosing just one winner. Well-known names included Millicent Wilner, director at the Gagosian Gallery, Jenni Lomax, director of Camden Arts’ Centre, Alex Sainsbury, director of Raven Row, and Sophie Hastings, GQ’s art columnist, along with Professor Juan Cruz, Dean of Fine Arts at the RCA, and Cowley Manor’s owners, Jessica and Peter Frankopan.

Their choice for the 2015 prize, Stolen Friend by Chilean artist Miguel Soto, is a scaled-down replica of a sculpture in the British Museum, ‘Hoa Hakananai’i, which once stood on Easter Island. The sculpture is designed to slowly sink into the pond where it is displayed, being transformed, according to Soto, into ‘a myth, a tale or just a rumour.’

The other shortlisted works showcase the breath of innovation and creativity that is synonymous with Fine Art at the RCA. Backsies, Milly Peck’s cheeky collection of signposts is actually an abstraction of the line of Classical statues’ buttocks. No less playful is Natalia Skobeeva’s sound piece, Hey Hey Hey, which issues a surprise greeting to visitors whenever a sensor is triggered. Making a much more solemn addition to the landscape, Jamie Fitzpatrick’s towering ‘Boots’ stands guard by the lake.

Other works demand you look closer. Oskar Jakobsen’s Redoubt, a table with a tablecloth lifted up, is composed of carefully draped folds that prove deceptive: they’re actually cast from alufibre, a metal used in the manufacture of boats and racing cars. On first glance, Barkskin by Kyle Zeto, a chunk of beechwood a grassy mound, may seem much more at home in its surroundings – until you spot a perfect 3D rendering of the artist’s own hand emerging from the wood…

The six shortlisted pieces from Cowley Manor Arts Award are on display until September. All works, apart from Stolen Friend, which remains on permanent display, and Hey Hey Hey, are available to purchase.

For more information, please see the Cowley Manor website.