iLLONA MORRICE | Ostrich, Curlew and more

A self-portrait with fruit, an embrace of rabbits, a llama with a hat, a fawn, an ostrich and a Deliveroo boy - all part of the menagerie that surrounds us and the subjects of illona Morrice's latest work. Six new sculptures have just arrived in the gallery. 

'It was an unplanned dash to town on her bike to buy eyelashes to complete the ostrich. 'Something was missing and it hit me what it was,' she tells me. The Patagonian llama needed them too - inspiration from travels. The young fawn, just born, looks up in comfort with big eyes, and the bronze curlew has sharp solid lines that catch the light.

It is not until later that I realise how like the artist the self-portrait is - bright coloured hair, eyes and lips, now with a few wrinkles, a knowing look, and a beautifully rendered bowl of fruit on her head. The fruit allowed the portrait to be made and the portrait begat the fruit.'

Tony Davidson