Dots Lines Checks opens at Kaash Gallery, Bangalore
This show features three bodies of work in Bidri, leather and the Chettinad strap weave. Hardstone, lighting, seating, art and light works that expand the lexicon of our work and investigate the possibilities of both simple and rarefied materials.
This show features three bodies of work in Bidri, leather and the Chettinad strap weave. Lighting, seating, art and light works that expand the lexicon of our work and investigate the possibilities of both simple and rarefied materials.
Stephen Cox: Dialogues in Stone opens at the Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore
As a part of the inauguration, MAP will be showcasing the sculptures of Stephen Cox, a British sculptor who has spent a considerable amount of time working in India. His sculptures of Yoginis and Rishis carved in basalt greet audiences as they enter the museum. Drawing from Cox’s observations of architectural sites and monuments in the region, they embody mythical beings through minimalist forms.
The titles of these sculptures – yoginis and rishis – refer to powerful goddesses and sages. The yoginis were part of an esoteric cult, where only a small group of individuals held knowledge about these goddesses. Enshrined in open temples and shrouded in secrecy, yoginis possess magical powers that evoke both fear and awe. Cox’s sculptures are contemporary interpretations of these goddesses, blending animal and human forms, a hybridity referenced in ancient Indian texts and one the artist has encountered in Middle Eastern, Egyptian, Greek and Roman iconography.
The smoothness of stone in the yoginis is contrasted to the rough and textured form of the rishis. Associated with knowledge and truth, the rishis take the form of torsos and other irregular shapes. The minimal intervention to the stone reflects the austere nature of rishis. In doing so Cox breathes life into intractable stone, capturing the essence and spirit of primordial figures.
Cox works with local material, using stone extracted from quarries to the east of Kanchipuram, a city in Tamil Nadu. A team of stone carvers in Mahabalipuram give shape to these sculptures. These stones, known as basalt, were also used in the construction of ancient temples. His sculptures thus bring to light an ancient material into a contemporary setting; the incisions made to these stones are preserved, bearing the marks of time
Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) Bangalore
The exhibition runs from February 18, 2023 - February 18, 2024
'Rishi I' installed at new sculpture park in Jaipur
Cox's Rishi I is a bold basalt work made with minimal interventions to the stone...
Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur,December 10, 2017 to December 2018.
The Rishis are regarded as sages or seers who, after intense meditation, realized the supreme truth and eternal knowledge which they then translated into hymns. Stephen Cox’s sculpture entitled “Rishi I” represents a figure with the minimum intervention made on to the stone itself. The stone, basalt, was taken from a place where some of the oldest stones on the Earth’s surface can be found. It shows the scars and incisions of the quarry men who have used the most primary tools to release the block from its bed, where it has lain since long before the beginning of human recorded time. This act of releasing stones from a primordial era and bringing them into the light of today is central to Cox’s practice, as he strives to understand a universal language of sculpture.
We are excited to announce that Stephen's Rishi I is a part of The first significant sculpture park of its kind in India. Simply called The Sculpture Park it brings art into reclaimed public spaces. Curated by Peter Nagy, the founder of Nature Morte in New York, has brought together an outstanding group of work by artists from around the world.
This piece will be at: THE SCULPTURE PARK
Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur,
December 10, 2017 to December 2018.
Below are some images of Rishi I :
