What drew you to working with porphyry?

“My passion for Egyptian porphyry has grown out of an intimate knowledge of this, the hardest of stone. It has a profound significance in the ‘cultural history of stone’ and is symbolic of Roman Imperial power.”

In Vasari’s ‘On Technique’, the introduction to ‘The Lives of the Artists’, porphyry is listed among the stones used throughout Italy in architecture, sculpture and even painting.  However, the source of ‘Imperial Porphyry’ is not confirmed; it wasn’t known until its rediscovery at the end of the 19th century.

Having used Vasari as an itinerary to take me to the quarries of Italy, it was only later when I received a commission in Egypt that I was given the opportunity to take an expedition to its mysterious source, through the auspices of EGSMA, the Egyptian Geological Surveying and Mapping Authority, who organised my expedition. They also introduced me to a number of other fabulous hard stones.

And what about the bowl?

The bowl that recurs in my work is the primary form of human invention according to Herbert Reed. My ‘bowl’ is an homage to this. It is a ‘transitional’ object that in its act as a vehicle for libation is itself being libated.

Can you tell us more about your process?

“Figures formed with minimum intervention are inspired by what the material itself will yield up. To realise the secrets of the stone’s character guile is needed to split it, and a determined repetitious process for polishing is required.”

What have you worked on during this challenging year?

During this year of lockdown I have been able to begin a series of new work also originating from the authors of my initial sojourn in Italy forty years ago. The subject of the many stones quoted by Vasari was drawn from the writings of Alberti; his extrapolations on the potential of perspective influenced many of his contemporaries. He was also obsessed with the hardness of porphyry and made the first carvings in it since antiquity.

The simplest use of Alberti’s principles has enabled me to recognise a link between my work as a minimalist and the rich potential for ‘illusion’ in a ‘modernist’ context. From nominal ‘relief’ referring to the compressed space within which it exists, to its potential to appropriate ‘cosmic’ space within the limits of a flat surface (thereby hangs a tale).

“I am also reinventing some early works called ‘The Hunt’ (after Paolo Uccello) in which I am using real poplar trees in perspectival schemes to revisit the magic of the most extraordinary invention of the early ‘Modern’ era.”

“This stone, which is purple-ish, to deep plum red, to really jet black… all of these stones, to qualify as porphyry, are scattered with star-like studs of white quartz and feldspar.”

Available Works