Wells Tempest is a self-taught British sculptor whose enigmatic wood and bronze sculptures are influenced by nature, ancient cultures and mythology, particularly Egyptian and Meso-American. Geometry and mathematic formulae are recurrent throughout his work, making use of naturally occuring geometric forms, vortices and the Fibonacci sequence. Modern influences include Bauhaus and Art Deco design and architecture and artists such as M.C Escher, Henry Moore and Constantin Brancusi.
His present collection, ‘Aegyptiana‘, is comprised of various representations of deities and primal elements from ancient egyptian mythology. One aspect of many ancient cultures is the depiction of deities as zoomorphic figures: human bodies with animal or insect features, usually heads. Thoth, the scribe god of learning is always depicted with the head of an Ibis, and Wadjet, the guardian goddess appears as a seated woman with the head of a lioness or as a rearing cobra; both deities have inspired pieces in the collection.
Tempest went to the London School of Printing and the London International Film School and took up sculpture in 2016. He was born in 1972 and lives in London.
