Recently I have started to build small piles of stones in selected places. These examples are from whilst I was living in Portugal.It is, however something I have done sine I was a small child. It is a creative act common to many cultures. In the deserts of the South West USA they are used to mark trails.
For me it is an act of recognition of the beauty of a place, an offering of reverence to nature. A minor intervention on my part, using already present materials in an acknowledgement of its intrinsic beauty.
Like Fernando Lanhas’ Pedras Pinturas, or Julia Ventura’s Untitled Landscapes, this work highlights the beauty of nature whilst minimising the role of human authorship. For me, my role is perhaps most importantly simple presence and recognition.
My Function as an artist is only a minor rearrangement of components that are already there. Nothing is added to, or removed from, the elements that nature herself has already provided.
The fragility of the structures ensures that in a relatively short time after my departure from a place, nature will once again arrange the stones according to her wishes, and the traces of my presence will be swept away.
Unlike many works that seem to celebrate, or emphasise human attempts to dominate or capture the landscape, my intention is the exact opposite.
A recognition that nature is not only more powerful than humanity, but also that she is capable of creating far greater beauty than we could ever acheive. Our role is, therefore, to acknowledge and celebrate this. To attempt to reintegrate ourselves harmoniously back into the beauty from whence we came.
2001
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