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Publishers Weekly Review

This collection of photographs of works by Nash, a wood sculptor who has lived and worked in Wales for the past 20 years, shows the varied ways in which the artist creates forms from wood while remaining true to the nature of the material. In some pieces, for example, there is a contrast between the solid frame construction of a chair or ladder and the wild, flowing line of the wood grain that heightens one's awareness of the qualities of the wood. Other pieces contain gnarly branches that add an emotive presence. Nash also uses many cubes, cylinders and triangles of wood, subjecting these simple forms to the elements so that they are cracked or charred or otherwise weathered. His pieces have a strong, elegant presence, and their simplicity emphasizes the expressive characteristics of the material.(August) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

One of the six British sculptors celebrated in A Quiet Revolution (Booklist 83:1167 Ap 1 87) mounts 106 photos and 9 drawings of his work in a virtually textless album. Nash's materials consist almost exclusively of trees felled and rooted and his tools include chain saw, ax, auger, fire to char, and topiary manipulation. The very rough-surfaced objects he fashions resemble animals, simple tools (ladders or tripods), or archaic monoliths and totem poles. They suggest that animate life and culture spring from the fixed, green world, and also, in such works as Wooden Boulder, that verdant life itself arises from the primordially inorganic. These essentially religious artifacts, concerned with the interrelationship of earthly things, while often large, are not ponderous but delightfully whimsical, even witty. For instance, an assemblage of oak sticks, a piece of slate, and a long, curving branch, entitled Elephant Passing a Window, at least prompts a smile, perhaps a laugh. Magical stuff, enjoyable even though explication of it is here confined to the jacket copy. RO. 730'.92 Nash, David / Sculpture, British / Sculpture, Modern 20th century Great Britain / Environment (Art) [CIP] 87-14323