The Hive was sculpted directly (without any preconception of the outcome of the piece) by hand. I had acquired the piece of stone from a famous sculpture park on the South coast of England on the Isle of Portland, where Portland stone is quarried. The stone was weathered and worn even though it retained its 'block' shape from when it must have first been quarried and cut perhaps over 50 or 60 years ago.
Initially, I worked only the surface away, wanting to retain the integrity of the stone as it was, but I found myself drawn into the stone more and more as I worked it. I feel that this piece is the start of the 'sex stones', an idea I have had for a little while developing. To create warm sensual form (though not strictly figurative) out of cold hard stone which is as equally inviting as it is unwelcoming; perhaps almost even disturbing. I love this contradiction and tension between beauty and the grotesque.
Copyright 2011 Austin Emery. All rights reserved
