To anyone who appreciates a well presented example of fine art that exhibits excellent craftsmanship, you'll find it ten times over in this collection of sculptures. Walking among Gilby's life-size figures is a rewarding experience. Not only do we appreciate the excellent works on display but how the they came to be. The Syndicate, as an exhibition, is the result of a group of ten art appreciaters who, in a modern-day Medici-like manner, supported the artist financially, and creatively, by guaranteeing to purchase a work prior to it being started. This 'syndicated sponsorship' gave the artist freedom to create ten unique, life-size figures that reflect aspects of the human condition.

The catalogue is comprehensive and informative, an excellent document that explains the project and the individual exhibits, is well worth having.  However, I'm glad I didn't read it until after seeing the exhibition so as to be able to find my own connection with each figure. And that personal connection between object and viewer is the best part of all Gilby's work. For example, the standing female nude Verona, composed of an open tracery of metal that includes spirals and leaves, suggests a sense of equality between strength and delicacy. We could be tempted to think of the mythological Daphne, who morphs into a tree to escape love, but Gilby's lady is quite the opposite. She seems very real as she stands tall on fully formed feet, with solid hands and an open mouth. She owns that duality of natural strength and delicacy found in all women.

Equally strong and delicate is Corpus, a limp and disjointed body of a man sprawled on the floor. He is anything but morbid as there seems to be a collection of thoughts within the figure which had me considering if the mind/spirit does indeed continue beyond the corporeal life. Most intriguing here is how the artist seems to 'knit' hard steel as easily as if it were as soft and pliable as yarn.

But it was Messiah that held my imagination longest as a few concepts were evoked by this solid, welded steel, figure, embellished with words and images. He stands in a commanding pose, feet apart, one arm raised, despite having a wheel chair embedded in his upper torso. Normally a wheel chair would suggest some kind of incapacity or disability but not this one. The chair is formed from stainless steel rod, giving it the sense of a fine line drawing rather then a solid object. Imbuing the symbol of 'frailty' with a fragility of it's own only strengthens the man. This exhibit suggests how we can all raise above, or at least conquer, whatever it is that would cripple us.

Each sculpture offers some aspect of our humanity; the whole concept of the 'syndicate' evokes aspects of past patronage of the arts. We can all gain from viewing well conceived and crafted works of art, and active art patronage. And each of us will find something personal in the quality works by Simon Gilby.