Comet Ball

The first, smaller version of Comet Ball was named after a game that one of Nash's student helpers used to play with her father. This inspired Nash to work with this shape further and on a bigger scale. He was also interested to explore forms with a sense of 'coming down'– in contrast to the upward sense of works such as Throne.

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Photo of Comet Ball in the Temperate House

Comet Ball in the Temperate House at Kew Gardens

Date and material

1995
Elm, partly charred

Life inspiring art

One of Nash's students told him that as a child she used to play a game with her father called comet ball, throwing a soft ball in a sock. The ball would fall first and the sock would flap behind. This story has inspired Nash to work repeatedly with this form. 'I was looking for a form that has the sense of having come down, arriving from above', he says.

He has charred parts of this sculpture to define the ball of the comet so that the tail 'flies free' in its un-charred state. To Nash Comet Ball is grounded, as though it has just shot through space and landed, burning up on its descent.