Bronze, Oxford Mask, 2010 by Thomas Houseago

His monumental figures inhabit a space between strength and fragility, where the human form is rendered both commanding and unsettled. Working with materials traditionally associated with classical and modernist sculpture — bronze, wood, clay, and plaster — alongside more industrial elements such as hemp and reinforced steel, he constructs bodies that feel simultaneously ancient and unstable

His figures often appear strained or off-balance, their exaggerated limbs and mask-like faces pressing against the limits of form. Through this tension, Houseago blurs the boundary between sculpture and drawing, mass and line, allowing vulnerability to coexist with physical presence