insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 15 - May 2016 | Page 17
ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
CASS SCULPTURE FOUNDATION
A BEAUTIFUL DISORDER
May-November 2016
Cass Sculpture Foundation was established in 1992 by Wilfred and Jeannette
Cass. Set within 26 acres of West Sussex countryside, the Foundation was
conceived as a unique not-for-profit organisation. It is composed of exhibition
spaces, an archive, an educational resource and a commissioning body.
© Cass Sculpture Foundation,
© Cass Sculpture Foundation,
Cui Jie, Pigeon House, 2015
Wang Yuyang, Identity (Rendering), 2016
© Cass Sculpture Foundation,
Tu Wei-Cheng, Bu Num Civilisation Wheel, 2015
Barnaby Hindle © Cass Sculpture Foundation,
Tony Cragg, Declination, 2005
Profoundly committed to fostering new, as well
as established talent, the organisation
commissions as many as 15 works every year.
It is consequently home to a constantly evolving
display that has included sculptures by Antony
Caro, Eduardo Paolozzi, Rachel Whiteread,
Tony Cragg, Antony Gormley and Sara Barker
amongst others.
The historical relationship between English and
Chinese landscape aesthetics is the starting point
and inspiration for these contemporary Chinese
and Greater Chinese artists. The title of the
exhibition, A Beautiful Disorder, is a quote from
an influential letter written by the Jesuit missionary
and artist Jean-Denis Attiret in 1743 that had a
tremendous effect on English garden culture.
This spring, Cass Sculpture Foundation is
delighted to present a major exhibition of new
outdoor sculptures created by 16 contemporary
Chinese artists entitled A Beautiful Disorder.
Attiret used the term to describe the ability of the
Chinese garden to provoke violent and often
opposing sensations in the viewer through a
series of theatrical framing devices. The exhibition
invites the viewer to reflect on China’s past,
present and future relationship with the world at
large, and provides valuable insight into the state
of Chinese culture,