Chelsea Art Fair

23 April 2008 Sculptor Alastair Gibson will exhibit two unique pieces with the Russell Gallery at this year’s Chelsea Art Fair, the first time that his Formula One motor racing inspired carbon fibre sculptures have been seen at this prestigious event.

Gibson has recently left the high adrenalin world of Formula One after more than ten years in the pits and paddocks of race circuits around the world working with top race teams, to pursue his passion of creating beautiful carbon fibre art. Drawing inspiration from this glamorous sport and incorporating the high tech materials into his designs, his fish exhibits are detailed with parts from the grand prix cars of Formula One race-winning drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

‘Racing Brown’ and ‘Racing Piranha’ are two of Gibson’s latest designs, and follow a number of commissions that the 45 year old South African-born artist has already produced. His early works grace the tables and mantelpieces of a number of high profile motor racing personalities and this success has led him to move full-time into the art world. Prior to his move Gibson was Chief Mechanic for the Honda Racing F1 Team, always at the sharp end with a demanding role which included being the ‘Lollipop’ man for the pitstops, one of the most high-pressured tasks in an F1 race weekend.

Leaving all this behind, Gibson looks forward to the Fair, saying, “I am grateful to Sarah and Charles from the Russell Gallery for showing my work at the Art Fair, which is a real privilege for a relatively new artist such as myself. I hope many art lovers will enjoy the medium of carbon fibre sculpture, which is little known at the moment, but I’m sure will become increasingly popular as this unique textile becomes more prevalent in our environment.

“Both of these pieces are highly individual and use the sleekness of the carbon fibre to bring movement and fluidity to the aquatic forms. As the first ones since leaving Formula One they are particularly important to me, but this is just the beginning. Most of my work has been based on marine life, but with the time to be more creative and develop all the ideas that I have, as well as the freedom to explore some of the new, innovative materials that are used in Formula One, I hope to evolve my work with new subjects and themes. It’s a major change for me, but I’m very excited about the future.”

Gibson was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and studied as a balance engineer before moving to the UK to fulfil a boyhood dream of working in motor racing. He progressed from working as a mechanic at Van Dieman on Formula Ford cars through to being Chief Mechanic at the Honda F1 Racing Team until Spring this year. During his time in motorsport he has worked with many top-name drivers including Jenson Button, Jacques Villeneuve, Jean Alesi and Kenny Brack. His sculptures were debuted in 2002 at a Lucky Strike sponsored Tribe Art exhibition at The Boiler House in London.

The Chelsea Art Fair will be at the Chelsea Old Town Hall Kings Road from 24th to 27th April.