LONDON.- Inspired by an interview with Terence Coventry exactly 10 years ago, this exhibition explores sculptures and works on paper whose vital images convey both great power and tenderness. Coventry’s work is charged with energy and life, capturing the essence of an animal or human figure – whether on the move or in quiet contemplation.

After studying at Stourbridge School of Art and then at the Royal College of Art, Terence Coventry was posted to North Devon on National Service. It was following his discharge from the army that he decided to put his artistic pursuits to one side, setting up home, and farm, on the Cornish coast. For the following thirty years Terence Coventry’s natural talent as an artist lay dormant while he worked the land and watched the animals that surrounded him.

Year after year the shapes and forms of his environment embedded themselves deep in his psyche. Living and working in an isolated environment, he could fully absorb the textures, sounds, rhythms, movements and vibrance of the natural world with no distractions. He developed an acute awareness of animal behaviour, and continuously stored images of them in their natural habitat – from gulls gliding down on the thermals, to the bulls in the surrounding fields bursting with energy and power.

Coventry’s sculptural language is made up of creative energy and a characteristic use of faceted, cubistic forms in familiar subjects - such as rooks, horses, and jackdaws – which became instantly recognizable. One of the highlights of the exhibition, Bird II, illustrates Coventry’s intuitive feeling for animal vitality. He captures the essence of movement in a split second of suspended animation in which the bird has either landed or is about to take off, revealing his remarkable ability to translate visual experience into material form with elegance and precision.

The interplay between space and form gives momentum to the work. The figure in Joyrider IV lunges forwards into an acrobatic pose while the horse’s legs appear as if they are mid-trot, and in his striking geometric drawing of two ravens, the birds appear to be having a conversation. Coventry not only explores the dynamism of animals, but also captures a sense of vitality in human figures. In his seated Couple II he articulates an intimate moment between two people, which is equally full of emotion and powerfully composed.