B.

Christchurch Art Gallery's foyer and forecourt have hosted some unexpected wildlife in the last eighteen months. In late 2006 sculptor Gregor Kregar brought his flock of colour-coordinated sheep to the forecourt, and in 2007 Michael Parekowhai's colossal cartoon rabbit, Jim McMurtry, played dead in the foyer. Now Grant Takle has supplied the Gallery with its own gigantic canine companion.

In this sculpture – the largest he has ever made – a British bulldog has burst from Takle's archive of images and into three dimensions. The resulting object stands half-way between cheekiness and challenge. On one hand, it has the playful look and blocky shape of a children's toy. On the other, it's as big as a tank. Perhaps Takle's dog is a twenty-first-century version of the stone lions and horses that guard the entries to grand old cultural institutions like libraries and museums. If so, the lifted back leg leaves no doubt that he's making a claim on this piece of cultural territory.