British sculptor Stephen Cox is known for his monolithic sculptures created out of indigenous materials drawing on history and culture of the local setting.
He has used Italian and Egyptian stones, he has worked in the Carrara, the marble quarries in Italy and was also the first artist to gain access to the Imperial Porphyry quarries in the eastern mountains of Egypt. In 1986 Cox came to India to represent Britain at the sixth Triennale in India.
A royal academician, he has made site specific sculptures in Italy. He went to Mahabalipuram to make a sculpture. Since then he has lived between Britain and India working out of a studio in Mahabalipuram. A few days after the installation of his latest public sculpture from Mahabalipuram in London, Cox takes some time out to explain his practice and different influences that have enriched it, in an email interview.
Edited excerpts:
The impact of stone carving tradition on him
I was guest of the Tamil Nadu Department of Education at the College of Architecture and Sculpture. Its principal was the famous Ganapathi Sthapathi. I arrived on the day of Idya Puja, the feast of Saraswati, the Goddess of work.
It was a holiday and all the tools and anything that moved was slashed with bright red kumkum and golden yellow sandal paste. For my Western upbringing it was a manifestation of belief and devotion in everyday life of people. I was given a hammer and chisel and invited to strike a block as a part of a ceremonial gesture.
Ganapathi Sthapati showed me something which has stayed with me — a pointed spike of charcoal. It was, he said, ‘the most important of our tools’. The importance of drawing links both our cultures.
On the day I began work I was shown the palm-roofed open walled workshop and given a chair and table where I could develop my drawings for my first project. I was also introduced to a young graduate as an interpreter called Arunachalam who would also help me carve. What drew me to working here was the scale of the work. Great blocks were stored around the compound. What really inspired me was that I found myself working in an ancient tradition in the 20th century.
