Based in Southern California, Conceptual sculptor Peter Shelton is a sculptor who, in the 1980s, became part of a rebellion against what he regarded as the confinement of non-figurative abstraction in dominant art circles, and turned to depicting realistically the human body. However, his expressions have layers of meaning not immediately obvious so are non-traditional in that they do not fit the usual definitions of realism. Of his unique approach the artist says:

"I was in art school at a time when figurative art was really suspect. I have always balked at any authority, so when the prevailing academy told me we were not making figurative art anymore, I moved toward the body anyway. To me it is basic to experience, to our experienc...