BRONZE · EUROPEAN
European Bison
Sculpted after a research trip to Germany.
European Bison began in Berleburg, Germany, where a pioneering rewilding project has returned wisent to the wild - the first free-roaming herd in Western Europe for centuries. Charlie travelled there to observe the animals at close quarters, and found this large bull standing out in steady rain, head swung low and away from the weather, a mountain of an animal patiently enduring. It is that moment the sculpture holds: not the bison of heraldry, charging, but the real animal - stoic, planted, built to outlast whatever the forest throws at it.
The bronze carries the contrast that defines the species: the great forequarters worked in deep, broken texture for the sodden winter coat, resolving to smoother, tighter modelling through the hindquarters. The turned head gathers the whole composition into a gesture of shelter, so that the weather the bull was shielding from is present in the piece.
Nothing prepares you for the size of them in the flesh - the sheer presence. We nearly lost these animals entirely, and hardly anyone knows it. I wanted to give that presence a voice.
CHARLIE SMITH
IN SITU
At home
European Bison sits comfortably on a table or side console.







