Rowan Gillespie

The Artist

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L'artiste

Rowan Gillespie first conceived of the idea of the present work in 1991, at the time the world was debating justification for the first Gulf War. This led to the creation of an edition of nine small bronzes at 37cm. high. Gillespie re-visited the idea in 1994 creating a wax model from which the present work is cast, nearly twenty years after its original conception.

The work relates closely to another piece by Gillespie called Judgement, which the artist was commissioned to make in 2007 for Sutherland Law School, University College Dublin, where it currently stands. A smaller wax model used in the process of making Judgement - nearly identical to the present work although the drapery is not as smooth - was cast in bronze by the artist (private collection). Together, that version and the present work, form an edition of two.