Ian Collings navigates the porous boundary between the rawness of nature and the precision of industrial craft. His sculptures, featured in this online exhibition, present stone as a dynamic agent—each piece a dialogue between erosion and structure, chance and intention.
In his practice, Collings excavates material from its terrestrial origins, drawing out fluid, organic forms from hard, geological blocks. He pares back onyx, limestone, marble, calcite, and travertine to evoke subterranean textures, latent patterns, and forces of emergence that speak to a process both time-bound and timeless.
Inherent in every work is a potent sense of interconnectedness: a carved dish mirrors human gestures, side tables and seats recast functional objects as sculptural meditations. The resulting forms—sometimes architectural, sometimes anthropomorphic—recall not only the biomorphic qualities of natural phenomena but also our evolving relationship to the material world.
Rendered with respect for geological temporality, Collings’s sculptures do more than inhabit space—they extend it, trace genealogies of texture and form, and invite contemplation of origin, transformation, and coexistence. His work stands as both celebration and investigation: an inquiry into the nature of matter, the language of emergence, and the quiet symbiosis between maker, material, and milieu.
Photography by Martien Mulder.