Tim Cotterill (Born 1950) English/American, Large Painted Bronze Fish Sculpture. An exquisitely detailed koi in a dynamic twisting pose, with three small "feet" for it to stand upright on. The title is inscribed into one of the fins: "Big Fins." Dated 2003 with a copyright symbol, signed, and numbered 95/750 directly below the title, all carved into the surface. 

Size: 20 1/4 x 17 1/2 x 7 in. 

Tim Cotterill was born in Leicester, England, in 1950. He left school at the age of 15 and began a six year electrical engineering apprenticeship, quickly finding work in landscape design, stone masonry, and construction after that. Intrigued with metalworking and fast machines Tim started designing and building radical wheeled vehicles in his spare time, but a leg injury prevented him from pursuing a racing career. He found his ultimate calling when he began welding steel animals and birds during the late 1970s, and has since become one of the best selling bronze artists in the world making elegant, stylized, whimsical bronze frogs, fish, and more. After a series of well received exhibitions and auctions at Sotheby’s, he began to divide his time between England and the West Coast of the United States, where he sought inspiration in the diverse biomes and flora found there. His work was an immediate success there as well, and he earned the nickname “Frogman” for his particular affinity for the amphibians. In 1990 he emigrated to California, first living in a rented four car garage that housed all his welding equipment, inventory, and belongings. Today he is an American citizen residing in Venice Beach, with a self-built modernist industrial home studio as his home base. His many hundreds of bronze animals continue to be highly sought by collectors for their attention to detail and whimsy, with permanent displays of his work at galleries on both sides of the Atlantic.