Terracotta

2005

H75 cm

‘Peter’, ‘Helens Twin’ and ‘Jinny’ , are three works installed in a line with ‘Helens Twin’ situated in the middle, between the other two. The exact facial orientation of each element can change which allows for variable interpretations of the imagined personal relationships between the ‘characters’.

‘This is how we remember our friends, their faces only slightly less than life size and with the alert intensity of what in a more civilised age it was conventional to call love, so that we attend to the characteristics we most cherished, the droop of their earlobes for instance, how one day they wore strange headgear; the good grace with which they waited, their lips open as if to say a final word before they left us; or the way queen Anne’s lace seems to have sown itself over the remaining clay of them.’

Being hollow built the sculptures have immediate associations with the shapes of ceramic vessels, an aspect enhanced by the medium of terracotta, which along with the floral decoration suggest they may be well-sited in intimate garden environments or sheltered indoors. Since they are unglazed terracotta sometimes painted, with clear seal and wax finish, they are not suitable for full exposure to the elements.

PRIVATE COLLECTION