A SCULPTURE inspired by the artist’s wife and with its roots planted firmly in St Helens, has been unveiled in up-state New York.

Artist Jaume Plensa oversaw his latest work at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.

Entitled Laura, it is a 20-foot tall depiction of a woman’s head cast in marble. With similar sculptures seen in Manhattan and Rio, our own Dream sculpture at Sutton Manor now has ‘little sisters’ across the globe.

Plensa, who is based in Barcelona, told the Buffalo News Laura arose from the desire to make visitors close their eyes for a moment of contemplation.

The 32-tonne sculpture, bound together with a thin layer of lead, is an elongated head of a young girl, wearing a serene expression, her eyes closed in contemplation.

Plensa said the sculpture is meant to give viewers; whether they’re standing up close or driving by in their cars, a two-second experience like “a short dream.”

“All the portraits have the eyes closed in a dream, and probably when the visitor is in front of the piece, they are thinking about their dreams,” he said.