Thinker on a Rock, a bronze sculpture by Barry Flanagan from 1997, sits in front of you here at the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, Iowa. Its title is plain and invites you in. This piece is one of eight casts, and six of those casts are installed at Washington University in St. Louis; John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, Des Moines, Iowa; Utrecht, Netherlands; O’Connell Street in Dublin; the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Brian Ferriso, executive director of the Philbrook Museum of Art, said: "The playful subject matter clearly references several art historical traditions, including that of Rodin.
In addition to the subject, this work's expressive nature encapsulates the artist's unique ability to create three-dimensional 'gestural' drawings with bronze. Stand here and let that idea guide you: the playfulness, the art-historical nods, the notion of three-dimensional gestural drawing in bronze. You are close enough to study surface and form; you are invited to imagine the artist’s hand.
Notice the sculpture's playful bronze form, one of eight casts scattered from Dublin to Washington.