Architectural Marble Carvings by Matthew Simmonds.

Matthew Simmonds is the artistic savant behind these exquisite carved marble sculptures.

Inspired by a life-long fascination of stone buildings, and drawing on skills learnt as an architectural stone carver, Simmonds’ work takes stone architecture, and particularly sacred architecture, as a central theme. Drawing on the formal language and philosophy of architecture, the work explores themes of positive and negative form, the significance of light and darkness and the relationship between nature and human endeavour.

Not unlike the great Michelangelo, but on a somewhat smaller scale, Simmond’s works are lovingly detailed and perfectly executed. They are quite simply, awe-inspiring.

Making a play of architectural spaces on a small scale, the solid stone into which the sculptures are carved is opened up to reveal intricate internal worlds in which the changing viewpoint and light play a strong role in defining the sculptures.

Graduating with an honours degree in history of art from the University of East Anglia, Simmond’s specialises in the art and architecture of the medieval period. After working for several years as an illustrator, he went on to study architectural stone carving at Weymouth Technical College.

He has worked on the restoration of several major English national monuments, most importantly Westminster Abbey and the cathedrals of Salisbury and Ely. Later he moved to Pietrasanta, Italy, where he specialised in fine classical ornament in marble. He gained his first recognition as a sculptor after winning first prize at the second international sculpture symposium of Verona.

Since then he has participated in several sculpture symposia worldwide and has exhibited in the UK, Italy, Germany, Denmark, China, Australia and the USA. In 2014 he moved with his family to Copenhagen where he now lives and works.

[Images courtesy of Matthew Simmonds.]