Sammenkrøbet mand med vædderhorn og vandsæk 1879 - 1937

Anders Bundgaard made this small clay sculpture, "Sammenkrøbet mand med vædderhorn og vandsæk", sometime between 1864 and 1937. The lack of finish is what really makes it, I think, the immediacy of the modelling. You can see Bundgaard’s fingerprints all over it. The surface has this rough, almost crumbly texture. The clay seems built up in layers, a bit like the way I build up paint, adding and subtracting until I arrive at something that feels right. Look at the way the head is tucked down, almost merging with the body, and see how the base is just a rough block. It’s as if he wanted to capture a fleeting thought, a raw emotion, without getting bogged down in details. There's a vulnerability to it, a sense of someone grappling with something deep. It reminds me a little of Rodin, but more personal somehow. Both artists embraced ambiguity, knowing that art is more about the questions it raises than the answers it gives.