“I stood on a 240 million year old mountain in Africa and watched the 4.6 billion year old sun descend below the horizon. As the light diminished, the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way began to glow in the night sky. Our galaxy extends for 100,000 light years and is part of a universe consisting of hundreds of billions of galaxies.

It was at that moment I began to grasp the narrowness of consciousness, the vastness of time and the transience of humanity.” Simon Gudgeon.

The monumental 'Search for Enlightenment', by Simon Gudgeon was unveiled at Riverside Walk Garden, Millbank, London, next to Tate Britain. The sculpture is exhibited as part of the Westminster City of Sculpture Festival, 2010-2012. Henry Moore’s ‘Locking Piece’ of 1963-4, sited nearby, is on loan to the Garden from Tate Britain and the Henry Moore Foundation. The surrounding area, which is home to Tate Britain, Chelsea College of Art & Design and the ‘Parade Ground’ outdoor sculpture gallery, has become a site of increasing importance for visual arts in London. After being exhibited on Millbank the sculpture was moved to a permanent home on Carriageway Drive, outside One Hyde Park, the most prestigious address in London, overlooking Hyde Park. Simon Gudgeon’s Search for Enlightenment, which is about our search for knowledge and the acceptance of our place in the universe, is a fitting new addition to the site. Two large bronze human heads stand next to each other, a male and a female, facing towards the Thames, their faces raised to the sky. The male is slightly before the female. The space within each cranium is hollow, through which the viewer can see the piece from an inside-out perspective, and move around it to view it from all angles, taking in the surrounding landscape and sky. The expressions on these faces are peaceful and accepting; this man and woman are in contemplation, absorbing great knowledge, at a point of realisation about their place in the universe.

Since Simon Gudgeon created Search for Enlightenment in 2010, the piece has become very meaningful to many people. A smaller version of the monumental 2.2m high work, which is cast in bronze, was presented to the late Duke of Edinburgh in 2011 for his 90th Birthday at Buckingham Palace, at the 24th Anniversary Dinner of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award World Fellowship.

This version is in an edition of 9, and stands at approx 50 cm high