Face Slice by Ian Walters (1930 – 2006) stands as a powerful fusion of surrealism and abstraction. Rising 235 centimeters high and spreading 190 centimeters wide, the sculpture dominates its space with a commanding red presence. Formed from resin bonded GRP over a steel framework, it balances industrial strength with a fluid, organic energy.

The sculpture’s bold red surface pulls the eye instantly. Curves and edges shift between harmony and tension, creating a rhythm that feels alive. The form hints at a human face, fragmented, stretched, and reimagined. One can sense features emerging and dissolving in the same glance, a cheek’s curve, a jaw’s cut, a hollow where an eye might have been. Walters transforms the human image into something elemental, sculpting emotion through structure.

Light clings to the resin surface, deepening the red and casting soft shadows that move with the day. From certain angles, the sculpture appears calm and monumental; from others, it fractures into pure abstraction. This shifting quality gives Face Slice its surreal power, the familiar dissolving into the strange.

Walters’s work often bridges humanity and material, and this piece continues that dialogue. The steel framework grounds the form, while the resin skin pulses with color and vitality. Together they speak of strength, fragility, and identity reshaped by imagination.

Face Slice stands as both a portrait and a question, an exploration of what remains when the human form becomes an idea, suspended between reality and dream.