Royal Academy

Gemini III, 2012-16

Stephen Cox RA

Gemini III , 2012 - 2016

Carved Egyptian breccia

Gemini III is a sculpture consisting of a base and two abstract figures carved from the same block of stone. The stone is known variously as ‘antique Egyptian’ or ‘Hammamat breccia’ and is a conglomerate with bight coloured ‘pebbles’ and fragments of diverse stones: granites, marbles, quartzes, hornblende and hematite of yellow, red, black, pink and white strewn in a greenish matrix. It has been recognised for its beauty since pre-dynastic times making its source one of the oldest, if not the oldest, ‘decorative’ stone quarries in the world. Its fame has yielded up stone to expeditions sent by early kings and pharaohs of Egypt as well as from distant lands including Xerxes and Darius of Persia and Philip of Macedon father of Alexander. These periods of activity have been recorded on the walls of the quarries with famous graffiti that has been left by the quarrymen. The graffiti consists of inventories of men and provisions that were tallied by the masters as well images of idols and offerings some simple, others technically very accomplished others expressing the yearnings of lonely men in a savage desert environment.

The Gemini series of sculpture deals with the relationship between two figures that share the family characteristics of the same block of stone like the generative life force of a splitting cell mirroring the life force of the fertility god Min who was the supreme god of this fabled land of Koptos that was also the source of Egyptian gold. The first Gemini sculpture was shown originally at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition followed by ‘The Meaning of Stone’ at Ludlow Castle and ‘Sculpture in the Quad’ at Lincoln College Oxford. It is currently on loan to Canterbury Cathedral until March 2017.

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Evening, 2016

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Evening, 2016

oil stick and oil paint

5ft x 5ft

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Black, 2016

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Black, 2016

Black, oil stick and oil paint

5ft x 5ft

These drawings are inspired by the magnificent Indian Institute of Management designed by the great architect Louis Khan at Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Grey, 2016

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Grey, 2016

oil stick and oil paint

5ft x 5ft

These drawings are inspired by the magnificent Indian Institute of Management designed by the great architect Louis Khan at Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Orange, 2016

Louis Khan: Siva / Kali, Orange, 2016

oil stick and oil paint

5ft x 5ft

Alberti: the Hunt for Perspective, After Ucello, 2021

12 ft x 9 ft x 6 ins.

Poplar Tree with brick and stone dust

Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Show, 2021