Saint Clair Cemin
Psyche, 2015
marble and bronze
marble: 39 3/8 x 196 7/8 x 39 3/8 inches; 100 x 500 x 100 cm
bronze base: 27 1/2 x 102 3/4 x 27 1/2 inches; 70cm x 261cm x 70 cm
bronze base: 27 1/2 x 102 3/4 x 27 1/2 inches; 70cm x 261cm x 70 cm
Saint Clair Cemin on Psyche: In the beginning there was only an image: the one of a white boat, empty, floating on dark waters at dusk. The whiteness of the...
Saint Clair Cemin on Psyche:
In the beginning there was only an image: the one of a white boat, empty, floating on dark waters at dusk. The whiteness of the boat, in my daydream, was due to the material it was made of: marble. The idea of making a marble boat was not new to me. I had already made a small one, in the 90s, about 5 feet long. I carved it in a way it would float. This one, in my dreams, was a full size boat. The difficulties would be multiplied by ten. The more I thought about the challenge in making it, the more obsessed I became.
In the case of this piece, I called it "Psyche", the Soul, in Greek. The legend of Eros and Psyche has been represented in many forms, all of them figurative. I decided to integrate Eros with Psyche as a unity. Eros became a long snake that follows the keel and shows itself on both bow and stern of the boat in a highly stylized way. I have always embraced myth in my work, either by allusion or simply as inspiration.
There is a whole branch of my work that deals with functional objects. My idea was to create objects that belonged to two worlds at once in order to create sort of an "interference pattern" in the mind of the viewer, like a chair that is a sculpture but that also provokes the unconscious disposition in the viewer that is related to a real chair. Psyche is clearly part of this lineage. The physical object is one, but it is two different things in one, a sculpture and a real floating boat.
After a long cogitation, for many reasons, I decided to make Psyche in China. I've had a studio in Beijing for the last fifteen years where I go three times a year to work. Very often I go from China to Greece, to the island of Hydra where my family spends the summer. The experience of going from the great cradle of civilization in the East to the one in the West, Greece, has been a wonderful experience that I repeat every year. Given my set up in China, the studio, and the contacts I made there throughout the years, the choice was clear. Also, the marble of Szechuan is very good, so I researched the quarries in the region and then spent several days to find the suitable block of marble. The stone is beautifully white, very strong, and now that it is carved the walls of the vessel become translucent when lit from behind.
Before I had even found the stone for Psyche I made a scale model in plaster of the boat. I could not afford to rely on a smaller model, since I had to see how it would look in the final size. Also, this work is very special, one mistake and everything is finished. I have carved it in a shed that I built especially for it with three wonderful stone workers from the west of Beijing. They are incredible and we've enjoyed our time together.
It is hard to convey the awesome feeling of having such a large rock resting just outside your door. It is very quiet yet it breaths gently, it is alive and it is so ancient. When it was brought to the studio, with great effort, my chief carver found out that the grain was in the wrong direction. We had to bring again a large crane and slowly turn it on its side. It was powerful, as if we were moving a sleeping Moby Dick.
The stone is over thirty thousand pounds. This is a weight that requires either heavy machinery or rigging techniques of the ancient civilizations (in the Forbidden City there is a slab of marble that weights around 400,000 lbs., and it was transported from the quarry to Beijing on a sled during the icy winter.) We are relying on heavy trucks and cranes. However, now that the boat has been finished, it has been reduced to 4000 pounds, which is heavy but more manageable.
800 kgs capacity
bronze support included
Boat is 1500 kilos
Base is 300 kilos
In the beginning there was only an image: the one of a white boat, empty, floating on dark waters at dusk. The whiteness of the boat, in my daydream, was due to the material it was made of: marble. The idea of making a marble boat was not new to me. I had already made a small one, in the 90s, about 5 feet long. I carved it in a way it would float. This one, in my dreams, was a full size boat. The difficulties would be multiplied by ten. The more I thought about the challenge in making it, the more obsessed I became.
In the case of this piece, I called it "Psyche", the Soul, in Greek. The legend of Eros and Psyche has been represented in many forms, all of them figurative. I decided to integrate Eros with Psyche as a unity. Eros became a long snake that follows the keel and shows itself on both bow and stern of the boat in a highly stylized way. I have always embraced myth in my work, either by allusion or simply as inspiration.
There is a whole branch of my work that deals with functional objects. My idea was to create objects that belonged to two worlds at once in order to create sort of an "interference pattern" in the mind of the viewer, like a chair that is a sculpture but that also provokes the unconscious disposition in the viewer that is related to a real chair. Psyche is clearly part of this lineage. The physical object is one, but it is two different things in one, a sculpture and a real floating boat.
After a long cogitation, for many reasons, I decided to make Psyche in China. I've had a studio in Beijing for the last fifteen years where I go three times a year to work. Very often I go from China to Greece, to the island of Hydra where my family spends the summer. The experience of going from the great cradle of civilization in the East to the one in the West, Greece, has been a wonderful experience that I repeat every year. Given my set up in China, the studio, and the contacts I made there throughout the years, the choice was clear. Also, the marble of Szechuan is very good, so I researched the quarries in the region and then spent several days to find the suitable block of marble. The stone is beautifully white, very strong, and now that it is carved the walls of the vessel become translucent when lit from behind.
Before I had even found the stone for Psyche I made a scale model in plaster of the boat. I could not afford to rely on a smaller model, since I had to see how it would look in the final size. Also, this work is very special, one mistake and everything is finished. I have carved it in a shed that I built especially for it with three wonderful stone workers from the west of Beijing. They are incredible and we've enjoyed our time together.
It is hard to convey the awesome feeling of having such a large rock resting just outside your door. It is very quiet yet it breaths gently, it is alive and it is so ancient. When it was brought to the studio, with great effort, my chief carver found out that the grain was in the wrong direction. We had to bring again a large crane and slowly turn it on its side. It was powerful, as if we were moving a sleeping Moby Dick.
The stone is over thirty thousand pounds. This is a weight that requires either heavy machinery or rigging techniques of the ancient civilizations (in the Forbidden City there is a slab of marble that weights around 400,000 lbs., and it was transported from the quarry to Beijing on a sled during the icy winter.) We are relying on heavy trucks and cranes. However, now that the boat has been finished, it has been reduced to 4000 pounds, which is heavy but more manageable.
800 kgs capacity
bronze support included
Boat is 1500 kilos
Base is 300 kilos