The £5000 GMAC Commercial Mortgage Europe Art Award has been launched this year as part of the annual exhibition of The Society of Wildlife Artists, which takes place between September 22 and October 3 at the Mall Galleries, near London's Trafalgar Square.
Made by Jean Hill (b. 1938) from bicycle chains and cogs, this remarkable piece exudes power and a uncanny feeling that at any moment the metal creature will suddenly move.
I was not alone in my enthusiasm of the sculpture as my fellow judges, who included Tom Coates, the current President of the New English Art Club, all praised it for its tactile and lifelike quality.
Equally remarkable is that Jean Hill has been a secretary all her working life and has taken up art only in recent years. Having retired two years ago, she is currently on the second year of a City and Guilds course in sculpture at the City Literary Institute. The 100 used chains came from the London Fields cycle shop in Hackney and Jean recalls how she collected them each Friday: "Other customers would look at me strangely as I enthused over the lengths of chain, saying that's lovely, thank you. They must have been wondering what a strange woman this was who wanted a bag of oily bicycle chains!"
The 5ft 7in (1.70m) long crocodile carries a price tag of £4000.
