The steel artwork known as The River was removed from its Dean Street location of 11 years early yesterday and will be temporarily placed in storage before resurfacing at the Lake Hume public lookout near the weir wall.

It is on the move to provide a clear passage in front of the $10.5 million redeveloped art gallery due to be completed in the middle of next year.

“I am not precious about these sorts of things,” Raff said.

“It is a high visibility area so it should be a good spot.

“For me it is the making and whatever happens to them I am comfortable with, unless there is real bastardisation.

“But that is not the case here.”

He said he had been consulted on every step of the move and had regular updates from Albury Council’s cultural services group leader Jacqui Hemsley.

“I count myself fortunate in having it in Dean Street for so long,” Raff said.

“As a sculptor you never know what is going to happen with your work.

“It still reflects the river and weir so it will fit in quite nicely.”

The River drew on Albury’s connections to the Murray River, cafe culture and other buildings around the city centre.

It was the first major public artwork in Dean Street and stands almost three metres high.

Raff sourced the materials locally with the steel plates being 16 and 20 millimetres thick.

A plinth has to be built at the Lake Hume lookout before the sculpture can be relocated.

His other prominent public artwork is the segmented red, orange and yellow spheres on the Lincoln Causeway called Porta, a Latin word for gateway, which were installed in 2007.

The art gallery redevelopment started in earnest this week with scaffolding erected around Burrows House, which will be incorporated into the art gallery building when the project is completed.