In 1963 Elisabeth Frink’s first strange predatory bird forms appeared in the cult science fiction film The Damned. The elongated limbs and attenuated upper bodies are typical of these and as the series developed so the artist continued to pare away and simplify the forms until in the Mirage sculptures the bird becomes a strange, amorphous, wingless species, powerful, aggressive, menacing. These fearsome animals, more birdmen than birds, are anchored to the ground, they will never fly, they stalk, emphasised by the gangly legs (typical of all Frink’s male figures), and they attack, the jutting beak is still recognisable. They are both threatened and threatening, and in the awkwardness of their posture they emphasise their inadequate status, earth bound, tethered, doomed.

91.4 x 53 x 21.5 cms (35.92 x 20.83 in)
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