Caro’s return to the UK in 1959 marked a fundamental shift in the landscape of modern art. After encountering the work of David Smith in the United States, he began constructing large abstract sculptures that disregarded existing artistic conventions. Caro’s North American travels enabled him to transcend the rule-breaking dynamism of his transatlantic contemporaries.
Not only did he meet Caro, but Capper was able to exhibit the movement of one of his early hydraulic sculptures before him. This critical moment serves as a benchmark from which the development of his practice can be explored. Since then, Capper has worked with industrial materials on a small and large scale. Capper stands at the forefront of sculptural practice today, bringing a visual language that was developed by Caro towards a new mechanical age, one hydraulic step at a time.
