Evocative and mysterious, Kevin Francis Gray’s sculptures transcend the art of mere likeness. Working at the intersection between the abstract and the figurative, the Irish artist experiments at the level of form and texture to imbue his portraits with a psychological depth – bringing life and character to such subjects as Hades.

Francis Gray’s rendering of his King of the Underworld is intimidating and humorous in equal measure. Working first in clay before translating into marble, you can see the mark of the sculptor’s hands and tools, bringing a fluidity to his work – here in fittingly grand display at the Villa Santo Sospir in France.

Activist art. In the wake of urgent conversations around racial injustice and inequality, the powerful symbolism of Hank Willis Thomas’ sculptures has gained the artist an international platform and momentum. Each one an ode to the importance of unity – as is the title of this 22-foot sculpture, installed in Brooklyn, New York in 2019 – his works are a hopeful, levelling reminder for us to come together and embrace our common humanity.

‘The large-scale sculpture of a bronze arm pointing toward the sky is intended to convey to a wide audience a myriad of ideas about individual and collective identity, ambition, and perseverance,’ says Thomas – whose vision looks set to continue lighting the world’s way.

Henry Moore (1898-1986) was a British sculptor and graphic artist known for his large sculptures in stone and bronze. He is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, and his works are found around the world – both inside and outside museums, and in and outside cities. Moore engaged the abstract, the primitive, the surreal and the classical in forms which are accessible and familiar whilst they are avant-garde. His large-scale works are often overwhelming in their physicality which enabled him to create a heightened relation between the sculpture, the site and the viewer.

Donald Judd (1928-1994) had a rigorous visual vocabulary that sought clear and definite objects as its primary mode of articulation. His sculptures offer insight into his singular commitment to material, colour, and proportion. Judd is one of the most significant American artists of the postwar period and his works have come to define what has been referred to as Minimalist art, (a label to which the artist strongly objected on the grounds of its generality). The work of Donald Judd is included in numerous museum collections. Permanent installations of the artist’s work can be found at Judd Foundation spaces in New York City and Marfa, Texas, along with the neighbouring Chinati Foundation.

New York-based artist Kathleen Ryan gathers inspiration for her oversized sculptures from natural sources: orchards, vineyards, and mineral mines below the earth’s crust. Ryan portrays the mouldy substances through precious and semi-precious gemstones like amethyst, quartz, and marble. The materials’ durability and longevity directly contrast the decay they represent. Speaking about her work, ‘They’re not just opulent, there’s an inherent sense of decline built into them,” she says, “which is also something that’s happening in the world: The economy is inflating, but so is wealth inequality, all at the expense of the environment.”

Figuration meets abstraction in the work of Nick Hornby, often in a fresh and illusory way. Twofold, as explained by the artist himself, was inspired by bringing together the work of Michelangelo and Kandinsky – two figures whose artworks, though polar apart, ‘are arguably pinnacles of their fields’.

Commissioned by Harlow Art Trust (Hornby’s first permanent public art commission), the sculpture was unveiled in 2019 as the 100th piece in Harlow’s art collection. In doing so, it joins the illustrious ranks of Barbara Hepworth and Auguste Rodin, offering new perspectives on their works and deconstructing conventions and categories within art.

Olafur Eliasson wants his art to break down boundaries between nature and culture. His latest show at Fondation Beyeler, Life, does just that. As a glittering green pool of water fills the inside and outdoor space, the work intertwines the museum with the natural landscape – an immersive eco-art installation that reflects the importance of environmental themes in Eliasson’s work.

‘In recent years, I have increasingly grown interested in efforts to consider life not from a human-centric perspective but from a broad, biocentric perspective,’ commented Eliasson, ‘to become aware of perspectives that go beyond what we humans can properly imagine.’ As Earth Day approaches later this week, we can credit his art with bringing these green visions to life.

Paris-born Jules de Balincourt is inextricably linked with California. He moved there in the Eighties with his family and has mined its storied landscape ever since. Executed in 2020, Solitary Cowboy invites us on a nocturnal journey to the wild west. His paintings — ‘a dreamy confluence between fantasy and reality' — are a riot of saturated colour.

But trouble often lurks beneath his candy-coloured surfaces. Look closely and you’ll see barbed references to social, political and cultural issues, from structures of power to racism and homelessness. Feeling uneasy? Good. ‘That’s the reality of our world. It’s a fragile, unsettling place,’ he’s said.

With an instinct for light to rival Renoir, and use of colour to echo Matisse, Marc Chagall is a true modern master. A Russian-French artist of Belasurian Jewish origin – with time spent in both Germany and the US – his oeuvre reflects all the finest qualities and influences of twentieth-century art.

No surprise that Chagall too was inspired by the sparkling vistas of the south of France, bringing to life the magic of Saint-Paul-de-Vence where he settled in his later life. The painting, containing elements of his Primitive style, captures that dreamy vibrance for which Chagall is celebrated.