Artist:
Rikki Morley Saunders
(b. 1951)
Tipping Point
Medium: Bronze
Date: 2019, cast 2020
Dimensions:
84 × 62 × 72 in. (213.4 × 157.5 × 182.9 cm)
Accession number: 2020.12
Copyright: © Artist
Label Copy:
Inspired by nature, local artist Rikki Morley Saunders focuses exclusively on animals in her sculptural practice. Based on direct observation she captures various creatures in intricate detail and imparts their passion and spirit. In Tipping Point, the artist's largest work to date, she explores the drama of peacocks, conveying the complexities of an animal that is prized for its serene beauty--yet is also remarkably strong and fiercely territorial. Peacocks fight by rising into the air on their massive wings and using their beaks and talons. Despite the weight of the bronze Saunders creates a buoyant, spiraling composition that reveals and obscures aspects of the two birds as you walk around it. The sculpture symbolizes defining moments -- the tipping point reference in the title--here revealed as the last moment in which an action can be stopped without repercussion.
Curatorial RemarksThe sculpture was cast in Utah and is 3/12 editiion.