Outside In

JOHN FOSTER

Outside In

Outside In was the Development Corporation’s first sculpture purchase for Peterborough in 1978. The piece was originally located in the Herlington Centre in Orton Malbourne and is now part of the Thorpe Meadows Sculpture Trail in Nene Park. Outside In exploits steel to investigate space, volume, weight, and density. John Foster’s sculptures are largely made of steel. The solid form of the sculpture looks to be folded and interlocked, as if it were formed of a more pliable material that might be folded ‘inside out.’

The sculptures Foster created in 1978 and 1979, such as Full Face, Back Break, Elephant Corner, and Outside In, are among the group’s largest. In his previous sculptures, he used planes in close proximity, but each plane maintained its own character as an unique ‘object’ within the larger arrangement. In the 1978-79 sculptures this quality – which had been almost axiomatic within constructed steel sculpture – was at least partially lost as the individual pieces of steel were increasingly mashed and melded together, through very thick welds¹.

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