Artist: Steve Winterburn
Dimensions: 85cm x 50cm x 40cm
Weight: 34kg
Edition Size: 8
Material: Bronze on Granite
The newest era of Steve Winterburn’s sculpting journey is his anthropomorphic collection which has had the biggest impact of any previous releases, particularly on socials with millions of interactions. “The Protector” was the second piece added to this collection but didn’t follow suit of the “dressed to kill” tiger, instead it stands alone with a more celestial and tomblike feel. This new style brings a fresh sense of freedom to Steve’s imagination, without the constraints of accuracy he is able to bring in all aspects of his creative being and produce some truly awe-inspiring art.
The initial inspiration behind this piece came from Steve wanting to combine tribal culture with one of Africa’s most revered and beautiful animals, the leopard, driven specifically from time spent with indigenous tribes and wildlife on conservation projects in Ethiopia and Kenya. However, as this sculptures construction continued to unfold before Steve, it began to write its own narrative, which he welcomed and began to fine tune. He noticed the physicality and presence he had sculpted resembled that of a superhero, which opened the idea of this sculpture being exactly that. The name “Protector” came to be, with the piece now evolving as a protective figure for wildlife against poachers, a subject that Steve is very passionate about and fought against for years in his conservation days.
“The Protector” is sculpted in a very stylised and contemporary way with lovely compelling clean lines making it a very striking presence. It takes inspiration from Steve’s fascination of ancient deities from various cultures where they would use anthropomorphic beings just like this, with this and its strong features, its name seemed very fitting. During its early stages of sculpting the first “Black Panther” movie was a huge success which tied in very nicely with the whole concept of this artwork. Steve took inspiration from the famous tooth necklace and integrated it into the sculpture adding his own African tribal styled patterns like surface tattoos, which is the perfect final touch to a show stopping piece of sculpture.
Price : £18,950
