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This is a re-carved sculpture, it was originally the stone flask piece, which I was never happy with so I re-carved it in order to better use the piece of jade stone.

The upturned mallet idea did occur to me in Beijing, so it was not a totally out-of-the-blue concept. England in Chinese is literally referred to as 'hero country' in the way they combine symbols to create words. I wanted to combine this idea with my role as a 'heroic' macho sculptor, symbolised by my hammer/mallet. This concept didn't really have enough conviction with me in China, it was only recently that I realised that I could exploit the translucency of the jade with the form of the tool i.e. the thinner shaft would be paler than the thicker head , alluding to the function of a hammer having a weight and mass at one end. This seemed to make the sculpture more 'right'. Maybe it also refers to the transparency of concepts of heroism ?! and maybe it is also a little bit phallic, hopefully you'll draw your own conclusions.

I do see this piece as something of a prototype, if I had the money and wherewithal I think it would be interesting to mass produce it, using lathes to carve the jade, making it more of a consumer item, more accessible. I don't think its uniqueness is a major part of its appeal.