Art at Furzton Lake, Milton Keynes

A stunning piece of artwork sitting beside Furzton Lake.


Triple Starhead 1987-93, which was displayed at Goodwood from 1994 to 1998, was exhibited outside the British High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, before returning to Milton Keynes. Shaped like a comet with its tail erupting from the earth it provides another feature for the parks and the Sustrans National Cycle Network route through the city.

Paul Neagu

Paul Neagu was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1938. He studied at the Institute 'N Grigorescu' (1959-65). Before taking up his painting course he worked as a technical draughtsman and constructor of dams on the Danube. This engineering background has fed into both his drawing and sculptures, philisophically and practically.

In 1969 he came to Britain at the invitation of Richard Demarco, and has since lived and worked in London, lecturing in fine art at Hornsey College of Art and Chelsea School of Art, in addition to pursuing his own career as an artist. He continued to teach throughout his career, and among his students were many of the younger generation of British sculptors who have made international reputations. Neagu gained British citizenship in 1977, and in 1991-92 acquired Romanian citizenship, so that he is now effectively Anglo-Romanian.

Paul Neagu's sculpture conveys the notion of movement through abstract form. His drawings, paintings, performances and sculpture are closely linked, in that all explore ideas that cannot be made literal in any concrete sense. They invite a participation which is demanding of the viewer's concentration, and need time as well as space to work their way into our consciousness. Star forms and geometric shapes, often made in stainless steel, with the surface worked to textures that capture and refract light, are typical of Neagu's genre.

Neagu has exhibited his work worldwide and has also received numerous awards, including most recently the Blue Ribbon Medal (Kongo Hosyo) from the Japanese Government in 1996 and a Leverhulme Trust research award in 1997.

Triple Starhead 1987-93, which was displayed at Goodwood from 1994 to 1998, was exhibited outside the British High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, before returning to Milton Keynes in 2001.

For Paul Neagu sculpture is a catalyst for ideas and their social role. His works are archetypes for notions that are not normally seen in concrete form.

In Triple Starhead he has taken the opened up shape of a shooting star and constructed it in three repeated forms firmly bolted together and rooted in the ground. However, the soaring head with its 'comet's tail' conveys meanings quite contrary to those of a heavy earthbound object. The convention of a blurred photographic image capturing a moving body is relevant here, and the 'tail', a graphic device used by cartoonists, acts as a visual thrust whilst in fact being an anchor. The shimmering surface of stainless steel worked to swirling textures endows the material with additional resonance in both sunlight and moonlight, heightening the concepts behind Triple Starhead.

Milton Keynes Art Home Page

Back to Leisure Channel Homepage