Seraphina Sculpture

Michael James Talbot has created 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 my sculpture, agonising 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. His Emergent Collection beautifully demonstrates what he likes to think of as a more mature and enlightened approach to such problems. In this collection he introduces 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. Where a foot protrudes from the plain, the foot simply emerges, as if emerging from a pool of still water. With this technique Michael 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. Seraphina, deals with balance, both physical and metaphorical. This beautiful woman is simultaneously earthed and breathlessly, precariously, finding her moment in space. She is moving forward, in her concentration, all artifice is lost… she is simply beautiful.