More about Kaleidoscope, 2017
This rock-crystal material is optically flawless. It includes a faint laminar zone of smoky colour. The piece retains on one tetrahedron corner an area preserving its original naturally yellow-stained (by iron) river-worn surface. The unique ripple fracture within the piece was made by the artist in a plane crossing at right-angles to the strongest growth axis of the crystal. It is this critical direction of applied force (of some 200 tons) that released the intense mechanical shockwave that is now 'fossilised' in the patterned surfaces separating this crystal into two parts. The generation of this kind of fracture is extremely difficult and based on years of practical experience trimming and splitting raw rock-crystal in Madagascar using flame and hammer. The carving and polishing into a tetrahedron has been designed to reflect and multiply the shockwave-fracture pattern as well as the spherical cavity within (and any contents that might be placed within the sphere). This optical effect also multiplies kaleidoscopically the four differently shaped vertices of the tetrahedron; one elegantly concussed, another showing off the river-worn and iron-stained surface, and two others with more or less pointed vertices. This piece is a 3-dimensional kaleidoscope.More Works for Sale
