Appropriating the morphology of a Roman soldier’s helmet or a visorless medieval heaume, masterfully hand-carved and topped with an admirable crest, Horus is like an allegorical warrior, but also a protector. In Egyptian mythology, furthermore, Horus, god of the sky, is most often depicted as a man with a falcon’s head.
The iron hull rests on three legs, typical of works from this period, and reveals an ovoid central element made of charred wood and pierced by approximately twenty iron rods, which anchor it to the outer shell. The sculpture’s opening is divided into two halves by a thicker rod crowned by a crescent-shaped viewfinder. This enigmatic element, appearing invariably as a hole—a monocle, perhaps, or a solar disk—can be found in most of Trudeau’s works in this iron-and-wood series. (A. L.)
