Caliana Sculpture - Limited Edition of 20

Michael James Talbot has made many sculptures that incorporate classical drapery. He used to carefully study the play of different materials and meticulously recreate every aspect of the weight, tension and hang of the material in his sculpture. He used to agonise over how to sculpt the edge of a drape where a foot protruded from beneath, trying to balance realism with the aesthetic of the piece. Thankfully, he is no longer troubled with the same anxieties. 'Caliana', part of the Emergent Collection, beautifully demonstrates what he likes to think of as a more mature and enlightened approach to such problems. He decided to introduce a flat plain to balance and divide the fully sculpted figure and disregard the formal studied limitations of the drapery. The drapery becomes the plain, which is both a solid form in its own right and yet is also at one with the figure, revealing and yet concealing the contours of the human form beneath. With this technique he can focus on the beauty in the gesture or movement, without being hampered by physical reality. - because it makes no sense, it makes perfect sense. The key to the Emergent Collection is to know that the figures are first fully sculpted in the round to an advanced and complete stage.He fixes the pose, gesture and anatomy in the knowledge that half the features may be lost with the addition of the flat plains. By adding, he is taking away, in doing so saying “this aspect is important and this aspect can fade”. As so often in art, less is more.