Bird of Prey

Bird of Prey
Artist: Tadek Beutlich
Medium: Twisted and plaited sisal on structure
Dimensions (mm): 2032 x 3556
Source: Purchased by the National Council for Diplomas in Art and Design in 1974 and presented to the Council for National Academic Awards. Grabowsky Gallery.
Location: Common Room, South Block, 3rd Floor

Bird of Prey is a monumental wall hanging in jute, strongly suggestive of a looming bird.  This wall hanging is richly varied in pattern and density, creating a visual richness with long elemental plaits that are held vertically at regular distances.  Some are given terminal loops; others dangle like long hair.  What is evoked is a hauntingly beautiful yet fearful and mythic image.  The viewer senses perhaps an unsettling power emanating from the sometimes visceral, sometimes erotic associations of the sisal forms.  At the same time, the head-piece and central body-area seem to invite one to wear this huge piece as a costume in some atavistic ritual, and thus in some sense to internalise the power which such an identification would inspire.