Made a beginning

Made a beginning

Stone carving 1, 26.04.2013

Stone carving 1, 26.04.2013

Started to carve on my 200kg boulder, all ideas for now are out of the window as the boulder has a shape of it’s own and a grain that needs incorporating. Working with the grinder, enjoying the expansive space I am working with, the forms are loose at this stage, rolling over the stone like eyes roll over rolling valleys (have I been out to much with the dog sitting on hills?) questioning if making models and drawings over the last two weeks was to a large extent anxiety to get started for real…well no good worrying about it, time is moving on and looking at the calendar I have approximately 2 months to complete this carving (and another one).

Guiseppe Penone, Spazio di Luce

Guiseppe Penone’s piece Spazio di Luce (exhibited at Whitechapel Gallery/ London until 11.08.2013) triggered following thoughts..Penone  uses beeswax as a memory of action, touch of the workers that apply the wax is remembered in the marks of their fingerprints, he parallels the power of the touch with the power of water that sculpted a boulder  (exhibited with mirror boulder sculpted by Penone). He says about touch, “the first experience of a child is tactile, only later does a child interpret reality with sight.” In the exhibition guide mentioned is how Penone rejects the heroic attempt to overcome nature, the artist’s humility in his enthusiastic embrace of the uncertainty, malleability and instability that lies at the heart of the natural world is evident in his work. “Spazio di Luce” for me has many different aspects and I am only beginning to understand this piece of work, no doubt will I go back to visit it.