small significant bits of scenery

- 2016 -

counter-relief in alabaster stone; impression in castilene

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SMALL SIGNIFICANT BITS OF SCENERY is a series of stone-sculptures with drawings in counter-relief. They are 'cylinder seals', but much larger than the cylinder seals used in for example Mesopotamia around 3500 BC, which were only a few centimeters in size. Cylinder seals were used for practical purposes, but they could also carry another meaning, and sometimes were worn as amulets.

I was drawn to their shape as they offered the possibility of presenting in a very condensed form, and in a loop, all the important ingredients of a situation.

The first one I made, in white alabaster, offers a zig-zag shape, a whale (two whales actually), a constellation of stars, and a sentence. The second cylinder offers a 'helicopter view', and is made in light brown alabaster.

The impression (or print) of the white cylinder is made from castilene, which is a semi-soft sculpting material.