'Cross the Divide' is by British sculptor
Rick Kirby. The figures adopt an unusual pose, standing on one leg to shake hands over a chasm. It looks a bit like the greeting of some strange secret society, but the way one foot supports the other leg gives a balance and poise that is perfectly convincing. The tiled finish is one of his hall marks.
Kirby is one of those sculptors whose work stands in too many shopping centres, housing estates and office blocks to have unassailable art-cred, and the nearby plaque shows that the work was commissioned by a charity with advice from art consultants, a breed of animal that sources art for committees that are too timid to choose for themselves.
