Guardian Temple Head, 2018,Bronze, 1630mm on base With a focus predominantly on still-life and figurative works, English-born Terry Stringer is one of New Zealand’s leading sculptors. Modelling in clay, Stringer captures the sensuous flowing curves of the figure, then casts in bronze, finishing each work with a soft wax patina. Classical allusions are embedded in each artwork, drawing from his own history of staring at sepia photographs of classical art in an encyclopaedia: “So, ‘Great Art’ reached down to me in New Zealand. This is the past that my sculpture remembers.” The titles of the works further reinforce these classical allusions and add further layers to their interpretation. To reinforce the three dimensionality of his sculpture, Stringer’s multiple viewpoints offer a subtle evolution of the image as one moves around the work. He explains: “My intention when making my work is to give viewers the reward of a surprise when they investigate the piece.” In Guardian Temple Head Stringer returns to the themes of blessing and guidance previously visited in works such as Benediction and now we are encouraged to see the human head as a temple. The base of the head becomes a temple plinth while the solidity of the head itself opens up into a tripartite column structure revealing the watchful presence of a figure within. The sculpture moves from a powerful affirmation of the raised fist which flows into the slightly bowed head lost in contemplation, evolving into a more alert and detailed face. Using multiple points of perceptive entry, each form presented by the single sculpture is experienced from a different place. None of these images are compromised by the other; rather they are discretely dissolved into the next.
