Modesty

1986
Ciment-fondu
119 x 45 x 33 cm


This work is a personal statement concerning Oriental concepts of decorum and morality. It is composed of rounded and curvilinear elements,
figurative yet stylised. The artist sought to combine identifiable detail and
meaningful posture into an eloquent visual symbol. For instance, he
reinforces his statement by a slight exaggeration - the addition of a third
hand to conceal the buttocks. Space invades this figure in a witty
shorthand. The omission of the upper arms draws attention to the truncated
lower arms and hands as they hover across the figure as though of their
own free will. "We are all guarded by society, bound by social and
personal fetters, as my work tries to show." (December 1988)