8th May 2017 by Frances
Stephen Cox, Relief: Figure Emerging to E.L
Further footsteps…
Stephen Cox ‘Relief: Figure Emerging to E.L’ (detail)
Stephen Cox ‘Relief: Figure Emerging to E.L’ 2014-15, dolerite, 18 tonne. 8 St. James’s Square, SW1.
Architect Eric Parry commissioned sculptor Stephen Cox, believing that ‘art can just lift a building beyond the everyday, to another world of possibilities.’ Cox said it took Parry ‘confidence and imagination’ to integrate art and architecture.
Cox’s large relief is informed by Indian aesthetics and the stone carving techniques he absorbed living in India. Parry described the ‘miraculous metamorphoses’ that occur working with hard stone, where colour and texture is transformative. Indian stone carving is imbued with spirituality, Cox says ‘Hindu, Jain and Buddhist priests believed that within the mountain they could find the living form of gods.’
E.L. in the title refers to Edwin Lutyens who lived in a house on this site as explained in the large inscription on the rail. Lutyens created a new order of architecture in New Delhi, India.
Nearby St. James’s Square hosts temporary displays of contemporary sculpture from time to time.
Stephen Cox’s relief sculpture can be found on the Burnt Sienna Walk, between number 9, White Cube and number 10, ICA.
