Sculptures that speak to the viewer

ITALIAN sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi was the first artist in 2,000 years to be commissioned to make a statue of the pope for the city of Rome. Unfortunately, after the unveiling of the statue in May 2011, it seems that the honour of this commission was elbowed out of the spotlight by a flood of negative criticism about his work.

According to art critics and public opinion, Rainaldi's statue, Conversazioni, was said to bear little resemblance to the late Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005.

Even Rainaldi himself was unhappy with the way that the statue turned out, and says that something intangible had gone missing when the foundry workers were putting together the 40 pieces that made up his five tonn…