As the title foretells, Hand, Head, Rose is an artwork of several elements. Finished with a distinctive painterly quality that is characteristic of the artist, the sculpture has the appearance of a rich graphite drawing or a moody sepia photograph, expanded into three dimensions. The sculpture is filled with varying planes and perspectives, creating a sense of movement and cleverly merging the three key subjects into one. From the frontal plane, the viewer is met with a head and shoulders portrait but discovering the back of the sculpture, there is a surprise encounter with fingers, leaves and a rose in bloom.

As Stringer explains: “This changing of subject is part of my long time preoccupation with the hidden side of the sculptural object. Here these seem to tell a story about someone reaching out to beauty. But also, by the mounting of the flower onto the stem of the neck, this is about the bloom of youth.”