A year in the making, the statue of the Greek God Hermes is one of several works Prof Stoddart, the King’s Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland, has been commissioned to create for a new ‘quarter’ in the US city, where grand buildings are taking shape in a traditionalist style.  

Made in his studio in Paisley, the statue will take a month to reach its destination, being taken first to Antwerp in Belgium before being loaded onto a ship and sailed across the Atlantic. 

The entire journey will be undertaken by a Renfrewshire logistics company, Rhino, something Paisley-native Stoddart is pleased to see.   

But, fittingly for a god who also represents tricksters, all is not as it seems. Instead of the usual bronze reserved for such important art pieces, the statue is made of material used to make much more mundane items.  

The statue will take pride of place over the city of Dallas(Image: Lindsay McQuarrie)

Just as Hermes is known as the god with wings on his feet, his statue had to be light enough for his delicate perch above Dallas to take his weight.  

And despite his shiny lustre, all that glitters is not gold. Professor Stoddart explained: “Hermes is the God of deceit and illusion, and there’s a little bit of that here. He’s made from glass-reinforced polymer, the same stuff a canoe is made from. 

“He had to be light enough to stand on the gilded dome in Dallas . And to have him covered in gold would have cost £21,000 – and it would have been too delicate to survive the journey.  

“So we opted to use a £200 pot of gold paint instead.” 

Sandy Stoddart in his studio at the University of the West of Scotland in Paisley(Image: Jamie Simpson)

Professor Stoddart is best known for his civic monuments, including 10-foot (3.0 m) bronze statues of David Hume and Adam Smith, and others of James Clerk Maxwell, William Henry Playfair and John Witherspoon. 

An opponent of modernism in art, he said that he relished the chance to take part in the Dallas project, which is firmly rooted in the traditionalist and monumental style of art and architecture.  

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He said: “For the past ten years I have been working with some architects in America, where they are building a new quarter in the city of Dallas in the traditionalist style.  

“And they want  some monumental sculpture for it. That’s not a style for everyone, but for me – it’s the highest calling man can reach.”   

He said that making a sculpture of a god who represented orators, but also illusion and trickery, for the debating chamber in Dallas, was also and interesting choice given the fervent around political discourse in the US.  

He added: “I’m not a political sculptor. But there are some queer parallels that come up.”