Unlike many of his contemporaries who use the detritus of every day life to create their installations and art forms, sculptor Thomas Houseago has chosen to work within the domain of figuration to express himself.

Perhaps you have already seen some of his work, as for the first time, the Ashmolean Museum is showing a few pieces of his work, borrowed from his first major solo exhibition at Modern Art Oxford. One massive figure now stands in the museum’s forecourt, others have been placed in the Cast Gallery and the Human Image gallery — a few have also been scattered elsewhere within the museum.

You may ask why the Ashmolean is sharing this exhibition. The answer is simple: Thomas Houseago’s work demonstrates a sensibility towards classical sculptural materials and processes. Viewing old and new side by side makes for interesting speculation, especially when seen in the museum’s Cast Gallery, leading one to ask if his work transcends its classical influences or merely refers to them?

Walk into the upper galleries of MAO and you will confront a remarkable collection of large physically imposing crouching figures, posed between walking and crawling. They challenge the viewer immediately, as they combine sculpture and drawing, being both three-dimensional and in places, as flat as a painter’s canvas. They have been created from hessian slathered in plaster, then crudely wrapped around steel armatures, some of which remained exposed and are rusting slightly, adding the only splash of colour to his work. Others, particularly the floor clay sculptures, which expose unmistakable footprints encrusted on the surface, have been cast in bronze. Primitive mask shapes hang from the walls. Dare I suggest that this bold, powerful exhibition generates a ‘wow factor’ that I have not experienced at MAO for some considerable time?

The crude finish of Houseago’s figures leaves one thinking there is even more to be said, as there is no denying the raw, naked power of these pieces. They possess urgency and an energy that rests on the shoulders of classical sculpture, as they push themselves out of antiquity and into the 21st century.

This exhibition continues until February 20, but will no doubt influence our artistic sensibilities for many years to come.