Sculptures

The collection below is just a small selection of some of the many pieces that Robert has completed over the years.

Bronze Commissions

All sculptures below are available for purchase unless marked ‘sold out’.

Addo Flightless Dung Beetle

If you go to Addo Elephant Park you’ll see signs saying “Beware of the Dung Beetles” so that you don’t drive over them. Their wing casings can’t even open and they’re absolutely flightless. The ball he is holding actually rolls.

Reed Cormorants Water Feature

I always say with the cormorant when they open their wings they’re drip drying. So I’ve got their wings open and the water drips off every feather.

Reed Cormorants Water Feature

Fish Eagle (sold out)

The Fish Eagle is a life size work that depicts a Fish Eagle snatching a fish from the water; the water is perfectly clear crystal polyurethane and the whole sculpture is supported by this polyurethane base.

Fish Eagle (sold out)

Black Shouldered Kite

The branch is in bronze with sterling silver thorns. Some I have cast in pure silver. The eyes are garnets which have been specially cut and set into the bronze for their red eyes.

Black Shouldered Kite

Fish Eagle water feature

This is a life size Fish Eagle water feature. The fish drips as if the eagle has just caught it. It’s designed to fit in a pond.

Sea anemone with triple banded clownfish

This is probably one of the most complicated molds I’ve ever taken on, but it was a fun piece.

Sea anemone with triple banded clownfish

Pair of Namaqua Doves

I’ve set amethyst into the wings to represent their flicks of colour. The eyes are onyx. It’s a nice interactive to move around and stand on a dining room table.

Pair of Namaqua Doves

Goliath Heron with barbel

This water feature is of a Goliath Heron who has just caught his fresh catch of a barbel that is still dripping wet. To get the water up into that fish I had to cast a stainless steel tube up the legs, so technically that was a great challenge.

Goliath Heron with barbel

Pangolin

The pangolin I started facing the other way and suddenly realized most people are right-handed and I’m left-handed. So I made him facing that way so that he’s nice to stroke with the right hand and not stroke against the scales.

Pangolin

Wandering Albatros

These are three-meter wingspan birds, with a body length of one meter. I managed to work from a very tacky specimen that the oceanographic researchers had here so that I could get the sheer size of these beautiful creatures. He’s a weather vane so he can actually turn on the stainless steel bar and rotate in the wind. I also did a smaller version of this for Birdlife South Africa, for the Mouse-free Marion Island project.

Wandering Albatros

African Wild Dog

While working on this piece I was doing a residency at Lion Sands Game Reserve and to be able to see the dog right next to the vehicle and come back and work on the original sculpture was truly amazing.

African Wild Dog

Cape Clawless Otters

Each of these otters has been individually modified to fit onto its own rock. The fish is also modified to be either a fish or a crab depending on the environment.

Cape Eagle Owl

Cape Eagle Owls are the third biggest owls in South Africa. They always nest on rocks so I put them on a rock base.

Cape Eagle Owls

Cape Eagle Owl

Vicious Circle

Vicious Circle is inspired by a spinning saw blade and depicts the incredible fight between lions and hyenas, a battle that will never be resolved. Watch the video here

Pair of leopards

I designed the pair of leopards to be nose to nose, but I noticed upon completion that as you move the sculpture the demeanor of each animal changes just by adjusting their positioning in relation to each other. In one position they appear to be engaging with each other whereas in another they seem to be ignoring each other.

Pair of leopards

Idiom Cat

The Idiom Cat is cast in bronze; the eyes are smokey quartz which I’ve set into the bronze with a hammer and chisel, and then the bell is in sterling silver. He’s on a pile of nine books. There are so many idioms surrounding cats, like “A cat has nine lives” and “Grinning like a Cheshire cat” etc. so that’s why I decided on the name of Idiom Cat.