With its pared-back form, green patina and spiky steel pins, 'Cactus' Cat shows Jon Buck’s playful imagination. Cast in bronze, it blends the character of a cat with the tough qualities of a cactus to create a hybrid creature that feels both humorous and striking.

Made during a period in which Buck explored animal symbolism and stylised patterning, 'Cactus Cat' reflects his interest in how sculptural language can suggest vitality, personality and narrative without literal detail.

Jon Buck has always felt compelled by concerns for the environment, in particular the human relationship to the natural world.

"What do we feel about ourselves as human beings, about our relationship to each other, to other creatures and to the wider environment in general? Science has tried to put us back as part of nature as we rapidly become more isolated from it, can art express this irony?" Jon Buck, 2019