This is Glynn Williams's largest sculpture to date, of which there are two casts in bronze. This, the original, welcomes visitors to Sculpture at Goodwood.

The piece is typical of Williams's work, demonstrating his unique blend of figuration and abstraction. He first employed the notion of slicing into naturalistic forms and shifting the pieces into new relationships in Portrait with Flowers 1990-91, which was shown at Sculpture at Goodwood during the first season. The dynamism which he found this method of working gave to the forms can be seen in the hands, which from the front look quite realistic, but from behind take on a curious ambiguity. With the hands, the implied movement of opening the palm in a gesture of welcome is underlined by the centre sections of each hand being sliced and swivelled, out in one, slightly inward in the other; pushed forward in one and slightly back in the other. The way in which the hands interact is also curious. Having been parted in the gesture of greeting, they are sited as two separate elements, but the composition remains as one, largely through the continuation of strong diagonals in each which are readily linked by the eye.

Such compositional devices were used by the cubists in their quest for a better understanding of form. In Picasso's Glass of Absinthe, he moved portions of the glass and its contents into new relationships to give a whole view: an entire experience of seeing round and within the form. So it is with these hands.

The hands are a self-portrait, undeniably those of their maker.