© Gibbs Farm 2013
"When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”
JACOB’S LADDER is a sculpture by Gerry Judah. 34 metres high and 8 metres wide, it twists from the ground to the sky. Made entirely out of square-sectioned steel tube weighing 46 tonnes, it consists of 480 lengths of steel, stacked one on top of each other.
Each layer is slightly different in length and size, shifted and rotated relative to the layer below, ultimately producing the final gracefully curving shape.
Gerry Judah was born in 1951 in Calcutta and moved to London when he was ten years old. He studied Foundation Art and Design at Barnet College of Art (1970–1972) before obtaining a degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London (1972–1975) and Postgraduate Sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (1975–1977).

After college, Judah starting working on large-scale sculptures.
Needing to earn his keep and finance his work, he took casual work round the corner in many theatres as a stage hand and scenic artist at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Royal Festival Ballet, London Contemporary Dance, Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. He has since created settings for the BBC, British Museum, Museum of Mankind, Natural History Museum, Imperial War Museum, Museum of Tolerance, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, The Who and many other performers.
He has also created sculptures for Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Ford, Rolls-Royce, Honda, Toyota, Land Rover, Alfa Romeo, Lotus and BMW at the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed, bridges in London and Cambridge and two large sculpture commemorating the First World War at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Jacob’s Ladder
2017
480 lengths of square-sectional steel. 34m x 8m

Gerry Judah

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