TWO STONES ...

''When I was romancing the stones'' ....


Photo taken by E. Hansen ... Thank You.

''A Monument to all Horses''  on the left of photo and  ''From the Earth to the Sky'' on the right.

''A Monument to all Horses''

Irish Limestone
 Carved from one block, 1995-1997

  9 feet long x 2 feet 8 inches wide x 6 feet high                
[ 2.74m x 0.84m x 1.83m  ]

Private Collection of Newbridge Silverware, Ireland.

''From the Earth to the Sky''

Polished African Black Granite mounted on concrete base with mirror on four sides. 
Two Blocks

19 feet 8 inches high
[ 6m high ]

2002
Private Collection of Newbridge Silverware, Ireland.

Both of these sculptures can be seen in this blog in more detail by typing in their title in the above search box or click on title to link.

A MONUMENT TO ALL HORSES and FROM THE EARTH TO THE SKY by DAF
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at deedaf.blogspot.com. 

''A Moment in a Rose Garden''

Material :  Plywood and acrylic paint.

Size :    24 inches x 16 inches
             [ 0.61m x 0.41m ]

    Private Collection,  Ireland.
.

The Story ...
When I did this painting in 1997 I more or less stopped painting at the time without giving it any thought ... and this had nothing to do with me in coming to that decision at the time about me painting but I do remember when a painter, a so-called 'friend' saw it and told me in all seriousness I should stick with my sculpture. Human nature I will never understand but I realize our emotions can get in the way. The reason why we are different from all other life forms is because we can be creative and this is something that is very personal but then we let it go and move on to the next work. Artists are people who live to be creative, speaking for myself and the emotions are what's involved in creativity and maybe it's because we can use creativity to express our self's where words can fail. An image is more powerful for an instant reaction from the mind and can leave that first impression implanted for a long time, even for a life. The artist depends on the emotions of the viewer to give the artwork a 'life' and not necessarily what the artist may have intended. As human beings we have invented everything as we know it, including knowledge and religion and to be creative is an extension of that mind to explore and be inventive.
I would encourage all to be creative and therefore I would feel mankind, apart from yourself would be the better for it ... don't think, but do. Be creative and keep away from people who belittle your creativity, they will have their own agendas in life.

 ''A Moment in a Rose Garden'' is stepping out of myself and being free as the bird flying over that rose garden.''





 
This work is licensed under a  
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.  

'Day One'

Polished Irish Limestone.

1987

13in. High

Private Collection - Belfast, Ireland.


The Story.
Everything about the carving of this sculpture I remember and since 1987 to this year 2013 it will be regarded by me as one of the sculptures where I felt in tune with the stone and though the work is in a private collection I would pay 10 times and more what I received for it to have it with me today.





'Day One' by DAF is licensed under a
 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 

 

'OPUS ONE'

2004
  
 Irish Gray Granite

9 in. High x 12 in.Long 

{ 23cm High x 30cm Long }

Private Collection - Japan  

The Story ...
'Opus One' was made on invitation specially for a touring exhibition in Japan which took place in 2004 - 2005. Apart from 'Opus One' being a finished sculpture in it's own right it was also intended as a model for a large public work in granite to be sited in Japan which unfortunately for me did not happen. 
 Today I am still happy with this work because I felt at the time it was a new direction for me in my stone work and also in how I was 'looking' at stone that I also felt a 'maturity' both of mind and experience in working the stone was now with me and hence the title ... 'Opus One' came to me when the sculpture was completed. It was a symbolic statement on my part that this is the 'one' work that came from all of my previous works in the stone.










'Opus One' by DAF is licensed under 
a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 

'AFRICA ... A Separate Reality'

Mix Media ... Wood, Glass, Paint, Plastic bird and gun, 
Photographs, Bullet Casings and My Memories of Africa.

14in. x 16in high x 6in.
[0.36m x 0.40m]

Private Collection, Ireland.






Africa .. A Separate Reality by DAF is licensed under a
 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at deedaf.blogspot.com.

BLACK HOLE

'BLACK HOLE''

2005

Black Granite - South Africa
Grey Granite - China
Pine Wood - Canada


2ft.x 9ins.x 6ft.3ins
{0.60m x 0.22m x 1.90m.} 

Private Collection, Ireland

 

 

   Visit the Video  ..

BLACK HOLE

http://youtu.be/Y_rX_SzLCS4

''BLACK HOLE'' by DAF is licensed under a  

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

''An Artist's Journey Through Transferance''

 

 

 

 

 

'The Transference' was the process by which emotions associated with parents and country unconsciously shifted to the child 
and in time into the artwork ... 
 the 'Final Transference.'

Transference was first described by Sigmund Freud who acknowledged its importance for psychoanalysis for the better understanding of the patient's feelings.

Extract from Wikipedia ...

 One definition of transference is .. "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is .."the redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconsciously retained from childhood toward a new object."  Still another definition is .."a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, especially of childhood, and the substitution of another person 
for the original object of the repressed impulses." 

In my own opinion and experiences everybody in every situation 
is in transference. It is one of the important pathological effects that go into the make-up of an artist and subconsciously will  surface in the artwork without fail depending on the state of mind at the time of making the artwork, and which allows one to grow, transform and explore as an artist.      

 

 

View the Video ...
''An Artist's Journey Through Transference''
http://youtu.be/fiaxBUfptVk

''Story Box''
http://youtu.be/zdZ2b5DzJCs



All artwork and photographs by the artist.



''An Artist's Journey Through Transference'' by DAF 
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
 
 

''Dante at the Gates of Paradise''

  

''Dante at the Gates of Paradise''
 
 1998
Bronze ... Unique.

15ins. High x 15ins.
{0.38m x 0.38m}

Private Collection, Ireland. 









 The Story ...   
I could write a book about this but this is the short version ...

In 1998 on the East coast of Italy and without mentioning any town names there was an exhibition to be held for invited artists to make a small sculpture in any material with Dante's 'Inferno' as the theme.   

                                       Dante, also known as the 'Father of the Italian Language' was an Italian poet of the middle ages and was born in Florence, Italy in about 1265. He wrote the Inferno, an epic poem which also became known as 'Divine Comedy'. In short it's about his journey through Hell in finding God. This work is widely considered to be the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and so for that very reason has been depicted by many artists in the past.

                                      At this time I was in and out of Italy quite often doing symposiums that I was regarding it as my 'second home' that some of the sculptors thought that I was living there full time as we were beginning to meet up at different events and so maybe it was that my name was submitted to take part in this exhibition by one of these artists  ... but it did not really matter to me as to how I was invited my name was starting to 'move' about and that was important to me in building up my reputation as an artist and everything helps if you are on the fringe.

                                     Today I don't remember much details about the exhibition only that it was going to get a lot of coverage in the media and a catalog was to be printed with a biography of the artist and the work, which was to be on exhibition for a number of months so the 'challenge' was taken up by me because I asked myself and not to miss an opportunity, '' would I made a sculpture on Dante's 'Inferno' if  it was left to myself '' ... maybe, but I don't think so ... and so destiny calls.

                                     My sculpture was made with the intention as me being 'Dante' going through the different experiences to reach God, in this way and I still do it today in my work, I 'become' the sculpture which I feel leads to a more meaningful artwork ... it's like showing all your emotions and all that goes into making you human, in 3d. The one thing I was not going to do in my sculpture was to compete with all the other works that went before, because I couldn't, and the second thing I was going to do, was to make Dante 'mine'.

                                     In the sculpture I am showing Dante {me} as a 'ball' that rolled through all the Hell's, {Life} to reach the Gates of Paradise, {Death} only to find he cannot pass through and looking in at the Garden of Eden, {Heaven} and at the Tree of Knowledge, {God} growing from The Rock, [Faith}. The disc base is symbolic of the Earth ... as above so below.

                                  'Dante at the Gates of Paradise' was bronzed in Dublin, crated, insured and shipped off to Italy in good time for the exhibition ... and heard no-more about it for nearly two years ... my 'Dante' had gone 'missing'. When the exhibition was over I had paid for the work to be returned to Ireland but when I was not getting any information from the organizers to my letters as to where my 'Dante' was I was getting more and more angry over my 'missing' Dante and so I got Interpol involved thinking nothing more was going to come of it in the sense that they have more important things to be doing and finding than 'Dante at the Gates of Paradise'. Gave all my information to Interpol and got on with life as it was until one day and some months later a courier van pulls into my yard and unloaded a wooden crate from Italy. 'Dante' had returned home ... but not for long.

                                The wooden crate was on the floor in my studio, the van had just pulled out of my yard and in drives a 'buyer' ... a couple of hours later bye-bye 'Dante'. At this time I sold my work mostly from my own studio as I don't like to give the galleries the high commission on sales ... if a sculptor makes a work in bronze and by the time all monies are paid out not much is left for the artist but the gallery is 'good' for exposure and getting your name circulated but I still maintain that if I can sell my work without a gallery, better still. 

                                 The 'buyer' was known to me and would be in no great rush to part with money to buy art work, mostly paintings for his small but good collection, until he was completely satisfied with what he was buying. I thought he had just come to visit me as he was known to do now and again because he liked to come around to see work in progress ... and for my coffee .. but today was different. Today he had his mind made up that he was in the market to buy sculpture and a piece from me but he had no idea as to what he wanted to buy. 

                                   Now I have learned over the years that when a collector is buying not to rush them into thinking they have to buy and at the same time not to let them feel they have all time in the world so this is where the artist becomes confident in his or her work .. you have a price and that's it, nothing worse in selling something below it's value and having regrets later ... but my buyer had his mind made up that he was going home with 'something' from my studio because, and this is the nice part, the next day was his one and only son's 21st birthday and he, the father, was going to start off the son's collection with a sculpture from daf ... I would like to think that his son is collecting today.

                                    So, here we are, standing in my studio going through the small talk when for the sake of me doing something but mostly wanting to see what condition my 'Dante' was in after been through his own Hell's started opening the box ... all eyes were on the box, me telling the 'buyer' that the sculpture was just back from Italy and the story behind it in brief but he was now very interested both in the story and in seeing the sculpture as I was. Now at this time he did not tell me his real reason for visiting me but I knew by his lead-up talk that he was getting to it when off popped the lid. Removing 'Dante's' wrappings and pulling him from the box I was happy to see he was not damaged in any way, in fact looking better than I had expected but the buyer was even more pleased, he liked what he say. Without me having to explain the sculpture to him he had already grasped my intentions in it, the very symbolism behind it and saw the perfect gift for his son in starting off in his own life and then told me as to why he was visiting me.

                                      The coffee was out and we did the business. 'Dante' came home to find he was on the move again and I have not seen 'him' since but I am certain he has given much with the story-behind-the-sculpture told more often than I have made a 'Dante' ... which is only once, but maybe in the near future I might try a ''Dante' with a different twist, now I am thinking and if I was to write a book on my 'Dante', the title would be ....

                            '' Dante  Lost and Found  in Italy.''                    

 

A last word;

After making some enquirers as to what had happened to my 'Dante' I was only told that it was 'located' in the basement of the museum were the exhibition was held  ...   ''o.k.''

 

                               Visit the Video  ...
''Dante at the Gates of Paradise''

http://youtu.be/0NJ-hNBZYkM

''Dante at the Gates of Paradise'' by DAF is licensed under a
 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.deedaf@blogspot.com.

'' Faith and Myths ''

 

''Faith and Myths''

Mix media painting 
4ft. x 4ft.
[ now lost ]

The story ...
My reason for posting this work done early 1990's  is to remind me that there are times when it all comes together. My intention was to do a painting that could tell it's own story of me being born Irish and the sociological implications it had on me as a child.  All though I never considered myself as an artist who paints I feel this work does it for me and happy to leave it at that.




 
'Faith and Myths' by DAF is licensed under a
 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
 

''Transliteration''

 

Mix media Painting on Board.

 
Red Clay, Colouring Pencil, Acrylic Paint,

Indian Ink, Watercolour Paint.

4ft7in High x 2ft Wide

{ 1.40m x 0.61m }

 
Private Collection,  Ireland.

                                                     

''Transliteration'' by DAF is licensed under a 
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 
3.0 Unported License.

''Sun Temple in the Andes''

 

''Sun Temple in the Andes''

2005

Pink Limestone - France

Blue Limestone - Ireland

Gold Leaf

6ft 6in High x 6in x 4in     { 2m x 0.18m x 0.12m }
Base 11in x 10in   { 0.30m x 0.25m }

Private Collection, Ireland.

 

The Story ...

              ''Sun Temple in the Andes'' is a sculpture that was entirely inspired by the stone and it's colouring and one of those sculptures that 'makes' itself and therefore lets my mind free in peace to enjoy the experience of carving the stone.

              This piece of French Limestone came away from a bigger block because of the dark red deposit that was trapped when the stone was being 'born' into nature. Limestone is a sedimentary stone composed largely of deposits of the minerals calcite and aragonite and these are a crystal form of calcium carbonate that are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms and other form of animal life that were trapped when the stone was being formed. Often when I was carving limestone I could smell the 'sea', gases that were locked into the stone millions of years ago and only released when I cut the stone. I always felt 'good' when I smelled the gases, it was as if nature was bringing me back in time ...  which it was.

Twelve sided stone of Cusco 

           Incorporated into my sculpture and carved at the bottom 
and symbolic of what the Inca culture was built on I included 
the Twelve sided stone of Cusco which was the historic site of the Inca empire. The Inca can be traced back 1200 A.D. The empire began it's rapid expansion in the late 1430's and would dominate South America for the next century. When the Inca were at their height of  it's power the Spanish arrived into Aztec lands further north, bringing with them smallpox that would sweep through the Inca lands before the Spanish had even stepped onto Inca soil. 

           Inca stonework for me is one of the 'wonders of the world'. To see these stones close up was incredible that I was lost for words and can only say inspired me in my future work in the stone. They are massive in size and weight some up to twenty tons and more. Fitted together with no type of mortar that most stones have survived earthquakes to this present day.  

            The top part of the sculpture is my interpretation of a doorway into a temple where the sun was worshiped for it's energy and power as the giver of life. At the foot of the temple I carved terraces's into the stone symbolic of Machu Picchu, 
built around 1450 and referred to as 'City of the Incas'. 

It's where I think I would find a 

''Sun Temple in the Andes'.

***  

 

 Visit the Video ...

 http://youtu.be/I5GERTNnahE

''Sun Temple in the Andes'' by DAF is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
deedaf@gmail.com.

'Spirit of a Condor'

2004

White Marble - Italy

Blue Limestone - Ireland

Black Granite - South Africa

2ft4in x 8in x 5ft6in high
0.68m x 0.25m x 1.68m 


Private Collection Ireland

         The Story ...

                                When I was in my time of making abstract sculpture and working in stone a strong feeling passed through me one day and left me in no doubt that my time in working 
the stone was coming to an end and when I tried to go
against it thoughts of having an accident with the machines
or a stone falling on me were always with me from that day on. Each day that you carve stone is a day when something could happen as an accident but I never thought about that because when you are in the state of creativity there is no
room for fear or doubts of any kind.

                                                     

                                                     Now before this happened I had no fear that something would happen to me while working the stones and this is coming from one who worked with no guards on the angle grinders I used for cutting the stone, in fact,
total disregard for safety to myself so much so that at times I worked in my bare feet always with no mask and weather permitting sunglasses as goggles because I felt and still do 
that I was doing what I was born to do and nothing was going
to happen to me and for nearly 25 years I worked like this
with no accidents to myself from the machines.

                                                         

                                                     My reason for telling you this is, in the year 2004 I made a sculpture from off-cuts of other stones I was working on at the time I had this 'change' come over me about my 'future' as an artist in stone. No thought was given
in the making of this sculpture and I believe like all good art comes straight from the subconscious mind where it is already 'made' and I was just the means to bring it into reality. 
The title I gave this sculpture ... 'Spirit of a Condor'.

                                                    I remember ... this sculpture was made and finished in three days and during the time of
working the stone I was in a 'bliss' state of mind that I felt I
was the Condor in flight over the landscape like a feather on the wind and consider this work today to be one of my best sculptures in stone and at the time of making it I also felt that I would find it hard to better it in my future work with the stone.

                                                 Now two things happened here, the first was that a 'contentment' had been reached in myself and my work that, in future works in the stone my mind would always relate to and try to recreate the 'feelings' I had in making 'Spirit of a Condor' ... and as an artist this is not good for creativity in fact, it could put up a mental block which would also bring on anxieties about the work and that would affect me creatively in the working of the stone ... 

and at this point of the story you have to remember my
'attention' for 'safety' standers.

                                               The second was ... ''Was it all coming to an end'' ... I was Lucky in the time while I was working with the stones. I got to travel the world on invitation and leave my sculptures in public places from Kazakhstan,

when it was still a communist country and under the hand of Russia to South America and across Europe and into Asia,

 including some big [very big] stone sculptures in Ireland, in total, 21 public sculptures ... and why do I think I was Lucky,
as an artist I am self thought and 'free' from any 'teaching' directly and that to me makes for me to be my own 'artist',
at least I was not copying the 'style' of some teacher and
maybe never finding what I might be capable of doing on my own. I always worked with no help from others, because I believe it has to be my 'energy' going into my sculpture.

                                                 Roughed out my own blocks, carved and finished ... nobody can take this satisfaction away from me and what does it in-tale ... a selfish {which very few could understand} 100% dedication to my art and a driven need to create from a material that is millions of years old before I changed it's form and gave it a new life and so
I have great respect for the artists who carve the stone as 
'direct carvers', working with the stone and sometimes
only the impression of an idea for a sculpture and the
sculptors from the past who have left works that 'talk' to me. 

                                                     In July 2006 my stone carving came to an end as if it never happened, and I have not cut
stone since though I miss it at times ... but now another door
has opened for me in this stage of my 'creativity-journey'
and I now work in a 10ft x10ft space with a small window
which I call 'The Pigeon Hole' and teaching myself to
work the local ball-clay into life-size figures in a very realistic  
and symbolist 'style' ...

no machines no models and no sunglasses ...

but still in my bare feet.

'Spirit of a Condor' at night.

Visit the Video

http://youtu.be/4DhHGx00VwU

'Spirit of a Condor' by DAF is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at deedaf@gmail.com.