Rocks 1
They are not asking for it. There is no pandemonium. The sky is not death beckoning. The world is grey and there is an ocean of pebbles. The rocks of Chesil Beach are everywhere. All along. As far as the eye can see. 180 billion of them.
Nevertheless, I want to do something with them. I want to make the pebbles more interesting. The idea comes to me. Let a thousand flowers bloom. In stone. They will look barren and significant. I want to have an impact.
Well, I want them to have an impact so that I, indirectly, can have one. So that people will ask if Gormley passed this way.
Here goes.
Nevertheless, I want to do something with them. I want to make the pebbles more interesting. The idea comes to me. Let a thousand flowers bloom. In stone. They will look barren and significant. I want to have an impact.
Well, I want them to have an impact so that I, indirectly, can have one. So that people will ask if Gormley passed this way.
Here goes.
Well, they look like mushrooms. Especially the one on the left. More beautiful in the stone.flesh than here. Which is odd because all the others (oranges, onions, pipes) were more interesting in the image. Is it because I am lacking a horizon? Because the backdrop does not drop?
A clump of them may invite me.you in a little. Beckon.
But the spectacle is all awry. Look. They look like woodlice scuttling away from a recently upturned log.
Rocks 2
For spectacle we need the spectacular. Someone with an eye for the prominent and the potent. We need a man to build a pebble.brand, to lift them up above other pebbles, out of the ordinary. Creating exceptional pebbles.
He will give us something more portentous...
He will give us something more portentous...
Rocks 3
But these are strangely Lilliputian. Even funny. Funny like dwarves used to be, before they stopped being dwarves and stopped being funny. They are far from spectacular. Just ridiculous.
So my question is: what does it take to turn the ridiculous into the spectacular? Is it volume?
So my question is: what does it take to turn the ridiculous into the spectacular? Is it volume?
Apparently not. This is an army of people with heads too big. An army of knobheads. Some of them have attitude or character. The one on the right is performing spectacularly and the one on the left is po-faced. But they won't make you want to get out of bed (if you are reading this in bed).
So my question is: what does it take to turn the ridiculous into the spectacular? Is it hauteur?
So my question is: what does it take to turn the ridiculous into the spectacular? Is it hauteur?
Well this has something. There is more context. There is more height. But it's scarcely formidable. They won't be flashing this round the world - the next thing. The next leader of the Conservative Party. The Turner Prizewinner.
It's not ominous. Or awful. Stone on a post in a shiny bog. Perhaps these failures are a comfort. Can be. A reminder to try harder. Or less hard. A reminder to pause.Perhaps to fall back on an old favourite... big flatties. Pile'em high...
But first find a platform. Perhaps one that looks like dragon eating the end of a bird:
It's not ominous. Or awful. Stone on a post in a shiny bog. Perhaps these failures are a comfort. Can be. A reminder to try harder. Or less hard. A reminder to pause.Perhaps to fall back on an old favourite... big flatties. Pile'em high...
But first find a platform. Perhaps one that looks like dragon eating the end of a bird:
...then slowly pile the flatties high...
Well, the doing of it is as interesting as ever. The placing. The putting. The precision. The feeling for the spot. The tiniest adjustment. Like balancing the three sticks in the hall... but that has just become the anticipation of collapse.
This is why growth capitalism prevails. Because we want more. I want more. This is nice but will not do.
The blue, however, helps. This is a figure:ground thing. The ground enhances the figure.... for a while. Then I have to try harder.
This is why growth capitalism prevails. Because we want more. I want more. This is nice but will not do.
The blue, however, helps. This is a figure:ground thing. The ground enhances the figure.... for a while. Then I have to try harder.
Rocks 4
But I haven't got the blue to play with. I can't paint the sky like some cheap Constable. So I must experiment with figures. This thorn tree seems more complex. More redolent. Perhaps it will afford me something. I realise I am scanning the beach for affordances. Surely that's a good sign? A better sign that scanning for things I can do?
But I am simply doing more on a pricklier thing. Can I redeem this one? Redeem myself? It may be keeping my interest up, but if it's not keeping yours up, then this won't last. I want it to last.
Let me try it this way:
Let me try it this way:
I suppose I could do this all day.
Catching sight of.
Approaching.
Assessing.
Picking up.
Weighing up.
Feeling up.
Tossing gently.
Inspecting closely.
Identifying a suitable stalk.
Popping hole onto stalk.
Standing back.
Acknowledging.
Snapcatching.
Moving on.
Catching sight of.
Approaching.
Assessing.
Picking up.
Weighing up.
Feeling up.
Tossing gently.
Inspecting closely.
Identifying a suitable stalk.
Popping hole onto stalk.
Standing back.
Acknowledging.
Snapcatching.
Moving on.
That's better. Well. It's something standing in for something else. Yes, mea culpa, I am serial stone user. And that leads on somewhere. Maybe it just leads to:
stones don't have feelings
Maybe it just leads to:
all artists are serial users
stones don't have feelings
Maybe it just leads to:
all artists are serial users
Rocks 5
But look. Could this work? Could it have meaning enough? Or impact? I like it. A single stone hanging by nothing.
Or this neolithic thing?
A beach stonehenge. Lacking in perspective. Let me michelange it. It's better in a way. A reminder of the slight gap. But putting myself in loses the pure stoniness. The ritual art.
...what about a rakish one?
...a skybound one?
...a pure shape?
...a baby whale clearing the surface of the water?
Or do we in the end settle for the rust and balance and blue havoc, starting simple:
...balancing:
...leaning in, so that ground, perspective, poise, colour have added to them the heart.gasp of touch:
I think that says it all. Our aesthetics must have a Hollywood ending. Touch. Interdependence. Trust. Love.
Love in pebbles on an iron frame.
A recipe for the touchingly spectacular.
Love in pebbles on an iron frame.
A recipe for the touchingly spectacular.