Throughout his career Roger Hicken has had an interest in the history and religious and spiritual iconography of Spain. A reredos is the ornamental screen covering the wall at the back of an altar but this wall sculpture was also inspired by a Spanish street corner shrine inscribed with the words ‘baxo la sombre de tus alas protegenos’ (in the shade of your wings protect us).

The sculpture is made from weathered lathwood, taken from the lath and plaster walls of what is now the Under the Red Verandah café in Christchurch. Hicken likes to work with salvaged materials and to explore their expressive possibilities. There is a subtlety and softness to the shades and texture of the lathwood that he has used here to great effect.

Hicken was born in Invercargill. He is largely self-taught and lives and works in Christchurch. He has collaborated with Dunedin artist Ralph Hotere in the past, making the distinctive frames for many of Hotere’s ‘window’ works.