Emerging Figure, I; Emerging Figure, II; Emerging Figure III

Peter Cannon-Brookes (Michael Ayrton An Illustrated Commentary, Birmingham, 1978, p. 113) comments on the Emerging and Penetrating Figures series, which commenced with the present work, 'The series of bronzes opens with the triptych Emerging Figures I, II and III, 1966, in which the figure slowly emerges from the neutral ground of the bronze relief only to be increasingly enmeshed. There are clear parallels with the complex painting Contained Maze executed in April 1966. In it, the concept of the maze within the man is explored and through the collage elements and stretched threads, that maze is linked visibly to the outside world. The main line of development, however, leads from Emerging Figures I, II and III to Triptych II, Emerging Figure, 1967, and Through the Blade I and II, 1967 and 1969 respectively. The later bronzes also develop from the abortive End Maze project for Arkville and basically explore the same metaphor as both End Maze and Emerging Figures, except that a shoulder blade is employed by the foil. These Emerging Figures preceded the Penetrating Figures, which Michael Ayrton evolved in 1969-70, and reach their climax in Troy Maze in 1972'.