Small Worlds by Simon Thomas

In front of At-Bristol, facing Anchor Road, is Small Worlds by Simon Thomas – a dramatic cone which rises 18ft into the air.

This striking piece, sponsored by the Institute of Physics, commemorates the work of Paul Dirac, the Nobel Prize winning scientist/mathematician who was born in Bristol.

Paul Dirac is most famous for his contribution to the Quantum theory and his discovery of anti-matter.

Rather than trying to describe energy fields with static 3-D form, Simon Thomas has concentrated more on pointing towards the small worlds which Dirac studied – which gives the sculpture its name.

Colour, heat and light are also vital elements in the artist’s approach as these natural phenomena are only described adequately by Quantum theory.

Simon Thomas’ dramatic interpretation of his subject presents the idea in a clustering of cones scaled by integrated proportional block-work.

The colour of each block varies slightly from its neighbour, ranging from a cool dark magenta at the base area to a hotter and lighter sand colour at the top and centre, reminiscent of a flame.

Fabrication of the cone used innovative techniques – first a full-size polystyrene cone was covered in two layers of stainless steel mesh

This was supported by a purpose-built steel frame support while the entire cone was coated in two layers of ‘Fibrocem’ – a cement-rich render reinforced with alkali-resistant chopped strand glass fibre.

Once the polystyrene was removed further coats of render where put on the inside. The outside was sandblasted to produce the required texture, and various pigments added to produce the essential colours.

Born in Portsmouth in 1960, Simon Thomas is known for his sculptures in both private and public collections.