Infestation

Large wooden insects are set to invade Trowbridge Town Hall this summer, as classically-trained sculptor Alex Jones has been gathering a selection of his best beasts from museums and private collections to showcase his body of work in the West Country.

His practice aims to convince the viewer of the unappreciated beauty of insects by playing with scale. Beatles become more like tanks and the common house spider, often found loitering in baths, becomes an elegant eight foot diameter, alien-like creature, carved in oak and black walnut.

When Alex appeared on the BBC programme Spring Watch, Chris Packham described the work as “absolutely magnificent!”

If you have never considered a beetle to be beautiful or an insect intriguing then this exhibition will encourage you to look again. Silver gilded lime-wood fleas dance across a gallery wall like the clichéd flying ducks and a huge daddy-long-legs wags its maple wings when you pull a cord.

When the exhibition opened at The Pound in Corsham in April, Alex unveiled his latest piece: A magnificent Swallowtail Butterfly with a fifteen-foot wingspan. Possibly the biggest wooden butterfly in the world, it is also coming to Trowbridge Arts, so be sure to come and see these impressive creatures.