Spider, 2003

This is Louise Bourgeois' Spider, which I believe is made from bronze and plaster. It is really interesting how the two materials form such a contrast; with the bronze legs, so sharp and angular, almost brittle in appearance, and the pink plaster body, soft and yielding. The marks on the body are interesting - I can see lots of tiny lines and indentations, as if it was formed by hand, with the artist pinching and prodding the surface, creating this tension between the industrial and the handmade. The legs are so spindly they look as though they might snap at any moment, yet they support the heavy body. It is the balance of these different states and materials, the brittle and the yielding, the sharp and the soft, that gives the piece its power, making it a totemic monument, that at once speaks of both vulnerability and strength. It brings to mind Giacometti, but Bourgeois's work is all about the personal.