A NOD TO CHILLIDA

2026

SOLD (Commissioned)

Welded corten steel sheet

10' (3M) tall

Photographs by Alister Thorpe

Previously refusing commissions for fear of compromise, I produced ‘A Nod to Chillida’ after an inspiring phone call with a new customer. My art collector clients had recently visited Chillida Leku and were enamoured with his confident mixture of brutal geometry with characteristic curves in corten steel. I have long admired sculptors who do not hide behind fussy detail and instead bravely present a few bold forms. I felt excited by trying to create something more ‘stripped down’ than my past work. I began sculpting my maquette and it became apparent (to my distinct relief) that copying Chillida would be impossible, even had I wished to. The result is very much my own but with stylistic nods in Chillida’s direction.

Save knowing my clients’ Chillida leanings, the only request was that the sculpture be 6’ tall. As I began sculpting my maquette, the idea of an arch arose. I had to break it to my client that a human must surely be able to stand underneath an arch, meaning the sculpture must be taller. Fortunately, my charming client was most obliging.

A Nod to Chillida now resides in my client’s breathtaking hilly garden, overlooking St Tropez, southern France, surrounded by cork trees and wild flowers. I modified the landscape to rise up and meet “it’s” sculpture, giving a “site specific” quality (especially once vegetation has established naturally). This seismic uprising around the sculpture’s columns makes it implausible that it could have originated from anywhere else, emanating from the earth itself. The last three photographs show this (sadly unprofessionally taken by me).