Harold Gosney – York Art Gallery

Posted on by modernmoocher

On Wednesday 4th January, I visited York Art Gallery.

I took a look at the pots and the paintings, ending with a stroll around the sculptures of Howard Gosney.

Having previously encountered his work at the Abbey Walk car park Grimsby in 2019.

Visiting again in 2025 prior to demolition.

Photo BBC

The Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District Civic Society has been campaigning to save the Harold Gosney reliefs on the 1960s Abbey Walk car park, which closed in May 2024 after North East Lincolnshire Council said it discovered structural defects. 

The authority has already taken 3D scans of the art and in an update said plans were in place to try and save one of each of the four designs, which are repeated on the building’s columns.

If they can be saved, the artwork would be put into storage until a new home is found, the council added.

January 2026

There are also works by Harold by the entrance to the Grimsby Central Library

And the Grim and Havelok themed copper relief on the side of Wilko store in Old Market Place.

All these works were first encountered on my Grimsby Walk for the modernist.

I was delighted to find that Harold himself was visiting the gallery with friends.

I stopped to chat and take a snap – thanking him for all his wonderful work and congratulating him on his excellent show.

Here is what I done seen.

Harold Gosney: Materials and Making
15 November 2025 – 28 June 2026
Included in general admission | Book now

Titled ‘Materials and Making’, this exhibition is a celebration of the work of renowned Yorkshire sculptor and artist, Harold Gosney – born 1937, who has spent over 65 years creating mixed media art pieces. 

The exhibition explores Gosney’s expert experimentation with various types of wood and metal throughout his career andconsiders the importance of drawing to his artistic practice. Materials and Making looks at how Gosney draws inspiration from his immediate environment and lived experiences, with horses, the human figure and music emerging as particularly influential subjects.

Featuring over 45 works, highlights include his striking ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’, crafted from copper and Perspex, the emotive ‘Father and Son, Bam’, his ‘Jazzman’, expertly carved from a single block of sycamore wood, and a trio of drawings depicting views of the nearby York Museum Gardens.

Abbey Walk Car Park – Grimsby 2025

Posted on by modernmoocher

Here we are again, six years after the first visit.

What’s been happening hereabouts in the interim?

The Abbey Walk car park was built in 1969 by Holst & Company of Scunthorpe at a cost of approximately £200,000. Whilst a key asset for the town centre, the car park was closed in May 2024, after structural defects were found. This was water ingress into key structural supports, making the car park potentially unsafe to use.

It has now been approved to proceed with plans to demolish the car park, and replace it with a 120-space surface car park, but with the capability in the foundations of being built on in future years if needed.

But what of the unique concrete relief panels, you may ask?

The four abstract concrete reliefs depict parts of a car, which were inspired by drawings in the handbook of the artist’s Austin Cambridge estate car, and were installed when the building was constructed.

Designed in the 1960s by artist and sculptor, Harold Gosney, having been asked to carry out the car park commission by the architects, Nicholson and Rushton.

These panels were cast in situ, with metal bars running through them, which were integral to the car park structure, which is likely to make removal of the artwork incredibly difficult.

NE Lincs

Last month, it was confirmed conservationists from the University of Lincoln had 3D scanned the sculptures to create digital 3D models to preserve them.

Grimsby Telegraph 

Photo – BBC

Which is all well and good, but will they ever be really remade and reinstated anywhere?

Only time will tell.

In 2023 the car park stairwell was transformed by young people from the local area, as part of a project by North East Lincolnshire Council and local artist Lynsey Powles, to try to tackle graffiti and anti-social behaviour.

Abbey Walk multistorey car park in Grimsby has been the site of a number of incidents of anti-social behaviour and graffiti in recent years.

NE Lincs

The demolition and subsequent construction will cost between £1.5m and £2.5m, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Abbey Walk Car Park – Grimsby

Posted on by modernmoocher

I was in town, just looking around, just looking for modernity, just looking.

I found you by chance between the railway and the high street, so I took a good look around, fascinated by the concrete sculptural panels on your fascia columns, those facing Abbey Walk.

Research tells me that they the work of Harold Gosney – born in Sheffield, he studied at Grimsby School of Art and London’s Slade School of Fine Art.

The majority of Gosney’s early commissions were collaborations with architects and he has made a significant contribution to public art in Grimsby. He is the artist responsible for the reliefs on the Abbey Walk car park, the large Grimsby seal by the entrance to the Grimsby Central Library and the Grim and Havelok themed copper relief on the side of Wilko store in Old Market Place.

Wikipedia

The car park has been the subject of some speculative repairs and refurbishment:

In total, the scheme will cost the council £1.54 million.

The authority will borrow £1.34 million to fund the project with a further £200,000 coming from a local transport grant. But the council said that the improvements made could help increase revenue from the car park of around £34,000 a year.

Councillor Matthew Patrick, portfolio holder for transport at the council, said that the work is essential to “brighten up” the building and attract people into Grimsby.

“It’s one of the largest car parks in the town,” he said.

“It will attract more people into the town centre and help to improve the offering of the car park.”

Lincolnshire Reporter

So here we are faced with a rare, precious and beautiful example of municipal modernism, a bold and brave attempt to decorate what is often the most functional of functional structures.

Owing something to the work of both Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso the imagery is derived from automotive parts, along with it seems to me, vague intimations of figuration.

Let’s talk a look!