Duncan Hamilton has revived an art that has captured the imagination of appreciative audiences for as long as anyone can remember.
Ice sculpture has its associations with the baroque splendour of a bygone age; in many peoples minds one of those accoutrements that magically appear, like Veuve Clicquot, as a confirmation that the fuction we are attending is of the highest order.
Duncan takes his art beyond the purely decorative. To witness a sculpture in the maing, as Duncan has been known to demonstrate at Charity functions in the past, is to witness a magical transformation of an apparently inanimate block of ice into something with a life and quality quite unique.
Duncans origins are as a chef, where the art of producing a polyexperiential creation to satisfy all the senses have given a good grounding, he feels, for working in a medium as demanding and volatile as ice.
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Since those days, Duncan has gone from strength to strength, his work redefining what we understand as Ice sculpture. On the journey, Duncan's work has popped up in the most glamorous of places, being associated with the likes of the Sex and the City gals - remember the opening sequence with Baileys, and James Bond - the ice gun on Die Another Day.
The production of the piece is controlled at every stage, from the initial freeking to the carving of the piece, which in its execution takes into consideration the changes that will occur as the piece slowly melts. In fact the piece melts into shape, and the transformation, which in some cases may take several days, gives us aform of silent theatre, all part of the temporal nature of the piece.
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In a world where, in many cases, contemporary art is closely associated with tedium, the mastery of Duncan Hamilton's creation acts as a breath of fresh air, as clear a sign that there is skill and mastery that can produce works that we can admire as the light that sparkles through his sculptures.
You can see more of Duncan's work at www.icesculpture.co.uk
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