THE GHOST OF EL CID

2002                                                                                 

ALMAZAN , { Soria }
SPAIN

Local Limestone

2.7m High x 0.50m x 0.50m

1st International Symposium in Limestone










The Story

It was not long after my return from India that I received an inviation to take part in a symposium in Almazan , Soria , Spain  and it was not until I reached Spain that cultural shock really ' kicked in ' on me . The time from India to Spain was to short as I was still  ' deprogramming ' from India and the work I did there . I do not repeat my work or style in every country, each country deserves a different work , a work that the people of that country can relate to and that's why I go through ' deprogramming ' .

Almazan has a local limestone and it's near to the hardness of granite . My block and size was already chosen for me , that is , when I arrived there the block was already on site and my name on it . So that's it , destiny has chosen the stone condition and size and if I am in '' tune '' with the stone the right sculpture will come out . , this is symposium , the meeting of other sculptors , the work , the challenge , the stone and the time to work it in , if you cannot work within the time allowed for the symposium......... don't go .

My sculpture had to relate to Spain or better still Almazan and my feelings were telling me , El Cid . Spain has many histories and not like the Spain of today and El Cid is part of that history , the part where castles were in their glory and Spain was Spain .  Trying to portray a part of a country's history be it in paint or sculpture is not an easy task and needs research but as I have said before I work with my ' feelings ' and THE GHOST OF EL CID  was going to relive in my stone . So not to ' waste ' away the stone I used all that was given to me and carved ' snap shots ' of El Cids time in Spain   .......    castles , swords and shields mountains and battle fields complete with the rats in after the battle to feed . One sculptor taking part in the symposium made the remark to me that I was painting the stone , { it was not a complement } , it just showed he was judging sculpture on his own concept as to what sculpture should be and therefore he has already reached his ' peak '.  In the making of art it's all about ' expression ' and not ' proven formulas ' that feel safe . In the process of making art it's a transformation of mind and body , a learning and feeling change that's private and when it's all finished it becomes the artwork born from an idea , a feeling and the desire to create and not from the ' proven formula '.

The main door of my castle you can enter your hand in right up to your elbow , which means that I carved the inside of the stone out , not drilled because with drilling the chance of bursting the stone open is greater and I could not take that chance with the stone , and so it was carved by hand as in hammer and punch and air hammer . Even though my sculpture is depicting scenes from a history , the real ' joy ' for me in this work was opening the stone as in the door of the castle and to see how far I could ' push ' the  stone ...... the door to El Cid's world has just opened .