Roy Adzak - Statue, Lips - 18.5 cm - Aluminium

A cast aluminium relief by Roy Adzak (1927–1987) showing a mouth, lips parted over a row of teeth. The mouth sits sunk in a soft oval hollow set into a flat rectangular slab.

Adzak worked the surface after casting. Short incised strokes fan out from the lips, the teeth are marked off one by one, and the tongue rises as a smooth, matte oval in the centre. The flat field has a fine granular finish that contrasts with the polished, light-catching curves of the relief. The slab is 2 cm thick and heavy in the hand.

About the artist
Roy Adzak (1927–1987), born Royston Wright in Reading, England, trained as a civil engineer before studying sculpture and photography at the Sydney Art School.
He settled in Paris, where he was represented by Galerie Iris Clert, and built a body of work around imprints and "negative objects": casts of bodies and everyday things read as absences.
He worked across sculpture, painting, printmaking and photography, and designed his studio in the 14th arrondissement as a museum of his own work and an artists' residence.
His work is held by the Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Étienne, among others.
It was included in the Centre Pompidou's "Made in France 1947–1997", and in 2022 Galerie Loevenbruck in Paris staged "Negative Objects 1958–1974"


Condition: Good
Age-appropriate surface oxidation and dark toning in the recesses. Scattered small casting pores, including one on the upper rim and one on the right side of the oval. Light surface scratches on the flat field. No damage or repairs observed.

Measurements: Height: 18.7 cm, Width: 15 cm, Depth: 2 cm.
Weight: 1,258 gm.

Shipping: Medium package