The raw and primitave amid the realms of high commerse; that is the intention of a sculpture unveiled in the city yesterday.

Bird Toten, said to be the largest bronze sculpture in Australia, stands outside the National Australia Bank building in George Street.

It was commisioned by the AMP, which ownes the building, for $150,00.

“Because the associated buildings were sofisticated 20th-centuary designs I wanted to balance that with the raw primitave qualities of the totamic form, which can stir something in the human unconscious,”

“The piece is not just big for the sake of being big. The scale of the surrounding buildings and plaza is very large. I didn’t want to battle the archetecture of the place and at the same time I didn’t want it to be so small that the form was no longer effective.”

John Stapleton, 1988