WORK OF THE WEEK : Laura Ford, ‘Waldegrave Poodles’, 2015

Laura Ford
Waldegrave Poodles, 2015
Patinated bronze
68 x 33 x 75 cm (each poodle)
2ft 2 x 1ft ⁹⁄₁₀ x 2ft 5 in.
Cast 1 of 6 + 2 APs

The Waldegrave Poodles, although narrowly beaten at Crufts by Viking the Australian Shepherd, are Best in Show at Roche Court Sculpture Park. Primped and poised, Laura Ford's poodles sit elegantly on the Summer House lawn, their coats perfectly preened and their white wigs coiffured.

Laura Ford (b.1961) creates imaginative and fantastical figures - often in bronze - that are simultaneously endearing and uncanny. Made for Ford's 2015 solo exhibition at Strawberry Hill, the Waldegrave Poodles draw directly upon Sir Joshua Reynolds' 1780 portrait 'The Ladies Waldegrave', commissioned by Horace Walpole. Ford transforms the three young women into "pampered dogs ready to be paraded and judged at Crufts". The Waldegrave Poodles explore the artist's concerns around gender and power, visibility and invisibility.

Laura Ford creates a world of magic and fantasy to be sited in the landscape.

Laura Ford, Nature Girls, 1998, Bronze, Edition of 6 + 1 AP