A relatively early work for the artist, made in the mid-2000s when Phil Gray was only in his early twenties, this Bull Frog is an astonishing demonstration of his skill and command of the medium at a nascent stage of his career.

This present work is sculpted in high relief and deliberately devoid of painted colour, allowing the mask to depend upon the supple physicality of the cedar itself. Broad brows swell above the bulbous eyes, while the cheeks billow forward in broad, rounded masses, the natural grain of the rich wood tracing the rise and fall of these forms. The long snout rolls outward into a generous mouth, while light slips across the swelling planes, catching each curve, hollow and carved contour.

The work is crowned by a great, lolling tongue that surges out and down from the mouth, projecting a full 7.5 inches beyond the point of contact when hung. Its extraordinary length gives the carving an almost startling physical reach, thrusting far beyond the plane of the face and deep into the space before it. Incredible.

ND