| commentary | A figure stands poised with one arm lifted, head tilted, its presence and composure evoking classical sculpture. Simultaneously this is a statue subject to conflicting, contradictory forces: equilibrium just a whisker from collapse giving rise to a uniquely charged tension. The taut physique carved in wood does bear comparison with the classical realm, with its austere, disciplined forms obtained through irreversible cut-by-cut decisions. In contrast, the bronze head and sections of the drapery are left unpolished, retaining rough surfaces and traces of the casting to evoke the transformation of matter and the process of time. Noting that he is conscious of achieving balance in his practice at various levels, the artist says that he values in particular “not a stopped state in which balance has been perfectly achieved, but the phase that immediately precedes balance, yet is still actively in motion” (from a 2011 interview with the author). (FO) |
|---|
