Three Dimensional

Guy Reid 'Self-portrait', 2001

This self-portrait by the sculptor Guy Reid is slightly larger than life-size. The artist uses lime wood because of its dense grain which does not visually interfere with the surface texture and dominate the figure. Two pieces of lime wood are joined together to create a block into which the artist carves first the profile then completes the back and front of the head. He works from life and photographs to get an accurate likeness of his whole head. The self-portrait is one of a series of fourteen commissioned portraits based on the people who work in the Avoncroft Museum of Architecture. They include a bricklayer, electrician and architect of the building. Each head is mounted on a lime wood block and suspended from the wall close to the ceiling of the building’s main hall, gazing down on passers-by like modern human gargoyles.

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