Syzygy Syzygy

Syzygy is a term that refers to the state of correspondence between opposites. In this work, two sculptural forms are placed in dialogue beside each other. They seem to be opposites in every sense - one was made by hand using a traditional approach to carving stone, and the other was completely machine built - yet they share the same root

A block of Quinto de Ebro Spanish alabaster has been hand carved, based on the artists subjective understanding of what a cumulus cloud formation looks like. The finished carving was digitally scanned, resulting in a virtual three dimensional mesh made up of 2.5 million tessellating triangles. This virtual data was mirrored and the number of triangles reduced to fifty-four - the furthest it was deemed possible to abstract whilst retaining a visual relationship to the source form. The resulting mesh was robotically milled in Indian black granite.

  • Syzygy
  • 2011
  • Quinto de Ebro alabaster & Indian black granite
  • 2.6 m L x 1.4 m W x L 1.9 m H
  • photo credit Peter Thorpe