About
David Harber has been making contemporary and classical art from his Oxfordshire studio for three decades. While he is best known for his outdoor sculptures, his team’s ability to sensitively tailor each project has made his work popular with interior designers too.
David began his career making sundials and his fascination with celestial movements has always guided his work. Arguably it was born in his blood – he is the direct descendant of John Blagrave, the Elizabethan mathematician and scientific instrument maker, who, coincidently, spent most of his life 20 miles from David Harber’s Oxfordshire workshop.
‘I have a desire to make pieces that confound perception,’ says David. His playful use of light and reflection is just one element that makes his sculptures so complex and enchanting. His pieces often invite the viewer to question what they see and usher them into another dimension using shape, media and materials. Rough-cut slate is transformed to create smooth sculptural pieces, whilst highly polished stainless steel mirrors its environment, reflecting seasonal change and becoming part of its surroundings.
Like nature, they are never static. In doing so, David hopes to reawaken the contemplative spirit we have lost touch with. ‘People become spellbound when you show them an altered reality in the fabric of a sculpture,’ he says. This is truly one of the most important roles of art today; to force us to pause and contemplate.
