Crystal Pyramid
Crystal Pyramid
2002, Architectural sculpture
- Artist's collection
Working on a small cube sculpture, I wondered what it would be like to be inside the cube or any glass structure, looking out. My mind is never far from the application of stained glass to sculpture in the landscape. I mentioned this to my son and he suggested the pyramid as a simple geometric form that would sit well in the landscape. In that moment I could almost see a glass pyramid as an architectural sculpture. It could be illuminated at night!
The pyramid has strong symbolic associations and returned me to my quest for an appropriate symbolism that would make the best use of stained glass in the present time. The ancient pyramids were built as tombs for the Egyptian aristocracy, monuments to the secret mysteries of an afterlife. They were intended to be impenetrable, dark and mysterious.
A colored glass pyramid is the ultimate contrast to darkness and mystery. It will manifest the light-animated transparency so essential to modern life — the enhancement of civilization, not death. It may be experienced by the public, who need no religious or aesthetic indoctrination. Their only need is a child’s delight in colored glass.
I build a blue and a red scale model at 1 inch to the foot. The blue model has a 24-inch base and the red, a 30-inch base. A video of the models has been made to help secure a client and site for a full-scale Crystal Pyramid. The full-scale structure of the work would be a truss work support dictated by the design, rather than a predictable, geometric, engineered pattern as in the I.M. Pei pyramid at The Louvre, in Paris.
Sculpture doesn’t sit passively nailed to the wall. It demands interaction, blocks your view, occupies real estate.
This video is a proposal to help secure a client and site for a full-scale Crystal Pyramid.
