ARTISTS TALKING

For this commission, David Ward has installed two sculptural pieces at the ends of South Pier and Claremont Pier. One of these piers is inaccessible, wooden and rickety, whilst the other is more modern and functional – a balance of settings that provides these twin works with a poetic scenic counterpoint.

Each work involves a series of fifteen poles that resemble the masts of sailing ships. They echo in form the real yacht and boat masts around them, and cut through the predominantly horizontal configuration of the seafront landscape. Each of these objects is painted in one of three delicate shades of pastel green, pink or blue and at the top of each mast is a blue light. At dusk, these lights begin to flicker, controlled with timers and dimmers they pulse on and off in sequenced patterns. They also appear to subtly shift in colour depending on the viewer's standpoint – from ultramarine through to turquoise.

This light show is an allusion to St Elmo's Fire. Taking its name from St Elmo, the patron saint of seafarers, this phenomenon is caused by luminous electrical discharges in the atmosphere during storms and bad weather. Highly effective as public art works, these sculptural objects are both conceptually and formally integrated with their surroundings. Looking out into the void like sentinels, they possess an emotive and romantic quality and a resonance evocative of the sublimity of nature, the ocean and the elements.