From his studio on the North Devon coast Paul Anderson has developed a rugged way of working: his preference for using structural oak rescued from defunct gates, fences, roofs and boats has given most of his elemental output over the last thirty years a recently unearthed feeling, almost as if it belongs to a previous, more primitive, age. The functional pieces – including huge figurative daybeds, thrones and tables – are commissioned for gardens and terraces as well as interiors; his contemplative and plantform sculptures have become familiar landmarks at The Eden Project.

Although pitched somewhere between bleak and frivolous, these smaller naïve sculptures, constructed from chunks of weathered oak and the odd giant, rusty nail, deal affectionately with hesitancy, blissfulness, and misunderstanding, their applied texts providing absurd or garrulous shots of intelligence.