Forms of Time 2001 - 2002
Piers Veness, Verano 2002 10
2002 oil on canvas
98 x 70 cm / 38.6 in x 27.6 in
2002 oil on canvas
98 x 70 cm / 38.6 in x 27.6 in
Piers Veness, Verano 2002 05 2002 oil on canvas
120 x 86 cm / 47.2 in x 33.9 in
Piers Veness, Verano 2002 09
2002 oil on canvas
120 x 86 cm/ 47.2 in x 33.9 in
2002 oil on canvas
120 x 86 cm/ 47.2 in x 33.9 in
“Stones propose another sense of time, whereby the past, the deep past of the planet, proffers a meagre yet massive support to human acts of resistence, as if the veins of metal in rock led to our veins of blood.” John Berger, “The Shape of a Pocket” (Bloomsbury, 2001), p. 239.
Out in the English countryside stand a group of stones whose original purpose has long been forgotten, but in which a pulse of life beats mesmerisingly. Some of the larger stones measure the height of three men, their roughly-hewn rectangular shape midway between the fashioning by people´s hands and a natural formation by the elements. That they are a monument is beyond doubt, but as to what perhaps isn´t so important, for each new age find their own meanings within the repetitve earthly forms. Against their long history, our own lifespan seems fleeting; against their heavy durability our bodies appear immensely fragile.
Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, 3100 BC
Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacán, Mexico, 100 ADIt isn´t just our own ancient monuments that make us feel this way. In nature one can find monuments such as the sublime curves of a sand dune or the chilling depths of a crevasse. In a sense, these monuments are even more embued with life than Stonehenge - the sand dune rolls inoxeribly forward, the crevasse broadens or deepens. What are we when compared to them?
Sand Dune, Namib Desert
Crevasse, New Zealand
Sand Dune, Namib DesertCrevasse, New ZealandIn Forms of Time (2001 - 2002), each canvas, a simple geometric form fills the space. It divides the canvas into left, right and centre. Whilst left and right are expanses of heavy grey, scratched in places to reveal a vibrant orange undercolour, it is in the centre where the action takes place. A delicate pinkish stain runs down the space neatly created by left and right. Unlike the sentinel grey form, the pink follows no symmetry except for a downward movement, therefore bringing an unbalancing element to the whole composition. Its glaring freshness contrasts with the sullen, uniform grey. Against the static, layered, timeless form, the stain bursts with the energy of a single strike.
