Otto du Plessis' self-professed love of figurative sculpture looks to the essential greatness of Rodin’s assemblages, Brancusi, Giacometti and Henry Moore, as well as to Kentridge, Dylan Lewis’ wildlife and the abstraction of Bruce Arnott and Brett Murray’s work. While his limited-edition functional pieces and collectable design strike an aesthete’s balance, the exploration of beauty in his sculptures is always a vehicle for a deeper engagement with universal themes – at times solemn or macabre, and at others, with the playfulness of an indomitable optimist. For Otto, nature presents a rich store of inspiration – in particular birds, wildlife and skeletal forms.