The elephants, inspired by Gian Lor

The elephants, inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture base in Rome of an elephant carrying an ancient obelisk, are portrayed 'with long, multi-jointed, almost invisible legs of desire' along with obelisks on their backs. Coupled with the image of their brittle legs, these encumbrances, noted for their phallic overtones, create a sense of phantom reality. 'The elephant is a distortion in space,' one analysis explains, 'its spindly legs contrasting the idea of weightlessness with structure.'