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Lunar Form I
Details
EMILY YOUNG (B. 1951)
Lunar Form I
white onyx, on a black-finished steel plinth, unique
69 ¼ in. (175.9 cm.) high, including plinth
Carved in 2017.
Lunar Form I
white onyx, on a black-finished steel plinth, unique
69 ¼ in. (175.9 cm.) high, including plinth
Carved in 2017.
Exhibited
London, Bowman Sculpture, Emily Young, November 2017 - January 2018, p. 33, exhibition not numbered, illustrated.
Further details
We are very grateful to Emily Young for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Lunar Form I is a wonderful example of Emily Young’s unique ability to carve serene human forms from ancient hardstones. The organic veins of the white onyx sweep in wide arcs across the torso, moving sinuously in line with the contours of the figure. 'There is a story told in every piece of stone that is more magnificent than any creation myth, so when I carve into the stone I'm imposing my own tiny moment on it, I put a little modern consciousness back into nature,' Young says. (Emily Young, Bowman Sculpture, London, 2017, p. 4.)
In Young’s practice, each sculpture has a unique character, owing to the individual stone’s geological history and geographical source. Young carefully considers the natural beauty and energy of each quarried stone before the first carvings are made, marvelling in each stone’s geological faults: their veins and cracks informing the final shape each work will take. Melding art with geology, the resulting sculptures highlight the natural beauty of the raw materials Young works with – in few other artist’s work does material play such a pivotal role. Young's sculptures, being so evidently drawn from the earth, encourage the viewer to contemplate the human relationship to the natural world.
Of her work, Young said: ‘In these handmade objects, I am putting up an alternative to mindlessness – to the commercial world, a request to consider and contemplate the qualities of being human on Earth that one cannot commodify, nor monetarise, that are just a normal part of the ancient stream of nature’s creativity. So that’s what I would stay with for now, I’m just working in the lines of nature, of evolution’ (the artist quoted in exhibition catalogue, Emily Young, Bowman Sculpture, London, 2017, p. 4.)
Lunar Form I is a wonderful example of Emily Young’s unique ability to carve serene human forms from ancient hardstones. The organic veins of the white onyx sweep in wide arcs across the torso, moving sinuously in line with the contours of the figure. 'There is a story told in every piece of stone that is more magnificent than any creation myth, so when I carve into the stone I'm imposing my own tiny moment on it, I put a little modern consciousness back into nature,' Young says. (Emily Young, Bowman Sculpture, London, 2017, p. 4.)
In Young’s practice, each sculpture has a unique character, owing to the individual stone’s geological history and geographical source. Young carefully considers the natural beauty and energy of each quarried stone before the first carvings are made, marvelling in each stone’s geological faults: their veins and cracks informing the final shape each work will take. Melding art with geology, the resulting sculptures highlight the natural beauty of the raw materials Young works with – in few other artist’s work does material play such a pivotal role. Young's sculptures, being so evidently drawn from the earth, encourage the viewer to contemplate the human relationship to the natural world.
Of her work, Young said: ‘In these handmade objects, I am putting up an alternative to mindlessness – to the commercial world, a request to consider and contemplate the qualities of being human on Earth that one cannot commodify, nor monetarise, that are just a normal part of the ancient stream of nature’s creativity. So that’s what I would stay with for now, I’m just working in the lines of nature, of evolution’ (the artist quoted in exhibition catalogue, Emily Young, Bowman Sculpture, London, 2017, p. 4.)
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Elizabeth Comba
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