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Notes

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Edward Allington made a series of four sculptures called 'From the Sex of Metals' in response to a question from art critic Stuart Morgan as to what sex his sculptures were. The artist began these works as a way to explore the question further, and then asked, 'to what strange gender does steel belong or bronze, and what is sex but the most extraordinary and elaborate mechanism for filtering fluids?'

'From the Sex of Metals IV' references Allington's characteristic style where he borrows from classical architecture, while the rusty Corten steel conveys a sense of industry and manufacture. In this particular use of steel, Allington explores ideas of (mass) production and reproduction through the theme of fluidity – metal that seems so hard and inflexible in its final form but which in fact has been molten and shaped.