The earliest work of art in the exhibition, Rook is a semi-autobiographical sculpture for Stancliffe. Working in the studio of artist Bruce White at the time of this sculpture’s creation, Stancliffe was living in a small loft at the studio, with bars over the windows. Through this sculpture, the artist reflects on self-imposed limitations and comparisons to his peers. The artist states, “We all create our own prisons in some ways.”
The imagery seen in this sculpture of the crow as central figure in sculpture, as well as the techniques of darkening steel to obscure the metal’s identity, all return in the more recent works by the artist, contemplating the “unfinished business” of creating sculpture for himself, and not as a public artist with any limitations on what he creates.
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