interview | paul ferriter
t h e r e c a n ’ t b e m a n y p e o p l e wh o k n ow S i r A P M c c o y l i k e s c u l p t o r pa u l f e r r i t e r – p o r t r a y i n g t h a t s u p e r h e r o c h a r a c t e r i n b r o n z e i s n o m e a n f e a t. pa u l’ s s c u l p t u r e o f t h e l e g e n d a r y j o c k e y n ow s ta n d s a t c h e lt e n h a m r a c e c o u r s e a n d c o r r i e b o n d - f r e n c h a s k e d h i m h ow h e c a p t u r e d A P ’ S u n i q u e s p i r i t
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“ fter such a stellar and lengthy career in silks and in the saddle, the determined, angular mien of Sir AP McCoy is a familiar sight to racing fans, seasoned punters and occasional flutterers alike. But for sculptor Paul Ferriter, every
What I really wanted to capture was the hungry jockey look... that fear of not winning the next race
single feature has been the root cause of restless nights.The Dublin-based sculptor spent eight months moulding, refining, and sometimes agonising over his life-size bronze sculpture of the legendary jockey before the statue was unveiled to huge acclaim at Cheltenham during The Festival last March. Commissioned by managing director Ian Renton as a permanent homage to AP’s incredible career as the most successful jockey in The Festival’s history, the statue will remain in-situ near the racecourse’s North entrance, mere strides from the statue of Gold Cup hero, Best Mate, in his namesake Plaza. Now marking a 25-year career as a sculptor, single-handicap golfer Paul is famed for his life-size works of golfing greats including Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Christy O’Connor Snr and Jnr and Victorian legend of the game “Old Tom”Morris. He also sculpted bronze busts and statues of Irish sporting figures such as Olympic president Lord Killanin and Gaelic Athletic Association founder Michael Cusack, before turning his hand to a more equine pursuit when he was commissioned to produce a life- sized statue of racehorse War of Attrition by his owner, Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary. Paul’s two-foot sculpture of White House designer James Hoban, from County Kilkenny, was presented to then President Barack Obama by Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny on St Patrick’s Day 2011, coincidentally the very day when, across the pond, a jubilant AP McCoy was celebrating a double win at Cheltenham on Noble Prince and Albertas Run. It is the energy and essence of his subjects that Paul strives to convey and with AP McCoy’s inherent tenacity, courage, and defiance of physical pain after suffering more than 700 bone breaks, Paul relished the challenge of capturing the jockey’s unique spirit and physicality. For Paul, the combination of exacting measurements and visualising the grit, intensity and magic that AP brought to saddle and turf would prove to be a painstaking process, but it has been a real labour of love. “It took about eight months in total. I met him maybe 10 times overall,” says Paul. “I’d meet him, take measurements, take photographs and video him, then get him to stand in the pose, take measurements of that and then also combine it with classic
Paul Ferriter at work on the sculpture
very strong features, great cheekbones, great jaw, great chin, and that stare that he has. To be honest with you I was always trying to capture that fear of not winning the next race. He was addicted to winning and I tried to capture that pre-race anxiety. “I also wanted to capture that half-lazy, languid stance that he has with his arms folded, and the whip. In so many images of him that I saw at the racecourse that’s actually how he stood. “Something else that I loved doing was sculpting the actual jockey’s gear. I really loved doing it, and I think I’ve done a really good job because nobody really notices it. T he irony in sculpting is the better the job the less people see.They don’t see errors.The proportions are really, really accurate. One thing for me with sculpting is that I like to keep a little bit of looseness, so if you were to look at it closely there is a little looseness in it, as if it’s overly done.” But Paul’s inspiration didn’t just come from AP himself.There were more esoteric elements to be considered. “To be really honest I kind of wanted to really capture this kind of superhero character,” he laughs. “If Pixar were to design a character it would be AP McCoy and in some ways I wanted to capture that. It might make you laugh a bit, but some of my references were funny – do you remember the
character of Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races? Well, I kind of brought him into it and drew on him a little bit. He actually has that will to win, that desire, but he also has the chin! “All joking aside, inspiration is everywhere and as a sculptor, the holy grail for me is... one, to create a likeness, but two is to bring some colour and imagination to the piece. “I don’t mean actual colour, I mean emotional colour and I would see in cartoon characters elements of AP McCoy that I would just literally want to bring in. As a sculptor you don’t want to just do AP McCoy in bronze – that would be a little bit boring, you want to actually add a little bit to it. I wanted to have a little bit of flamboyancy or something.” Paul was thrilled to spend time with AP, who he says was very generous with his time. “I think one thing I got from being with him, and I got this with Nick Faldo as well, there is a kind of a little insecurity there within them that drives them to win more than most. Maybe I saw a little bit of that because he’s actually very honest about what it’s like retiring and not waking up wondering what his calendar is like. Maybe a little bit of that came across, that little bit of doubt that we all have. “I think there is a sadness there. I actually asked him ‘do you ever get depressed’ and he said ‘yes, sometimes, you know. I used to have all my dates lined up in a year with this race coming up and that race is then’, and now it’s like, well obviously things have changed
images of him while he was racing, because what I really wanted to capture was that kind of gaunt look, the hungry jockey look. I think in the sculpture I’ve captured a really serious determination to win.” Working initially in clay, there’s little doubt that Paul has portrayed AP’s unique qualities, but the attention to detail was an all- consuming factor for him. “I’m very happy with it. I suppose I really put the work into it. I really, really, really concentrated on his face, on his cheekbones heavily, on his chin. “I went to bed every night thinking about AP McCoy! I was lying in bed going; ‘maybe his jaw’s a bit bigger’, and this was every night for months. It was kind of almost embarrassing actually. Then I would keep going over the photographs that I took and the measurements and then I would be Googling his images every night, looking at videos, just trying to get a clue to make the piece better.” Paul’s thorough approach and exacting eye enabled him to refine the work in progress and either add to or pare down the clay. “Every time I looked at something I would improve something, so maybe an image that I got online might actually be a great image of his nose, maybe the light might have caught it really well, or another one it might have been his forehead, so in the end it was like a tick box putting all of those great images together, to try and capture the best of AP McCoy. He’s a good-looking man with
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