In 2011, I had the opportunity to participate in the first International Stone Sculpture Symposium on the island of Chios, Greece. The 2 meter grey marble block from which the sculpture emerged was not just a material but a very hard e difficult to sculpt unlikely dialogue partner, guiding me through its resistance, structure, and depth into an immersive artistic process.
The work itself is a symbolic exploration of perception and reality. The figure of the Cyclops, traditionally depicted as a one-eyed giant, represents a limited, perhaps even distorted view of the world. But here, the focus is not just on mythology; it is on the state of delirium, a moment of estrangement in which reality dissolves and the boundaries between being and imagination blur.
The central gesture of the sculpture, a disproportionately large hand holding a bowl full of vine, creates a paradoxical tension. Is it an offering? A ritual? Or a final, desperate act of self-awareness? The arm emerges from an organically shaped form, fusing with the stone yet simultaneously breaking free in a distorted dynamic. It seems to hover between materiality and dissolution, almost uncertain of its own existence.
What occupied me most during the creation process was the nearly unsculptabel solid marble. The surface is deliberately not uniformly polished, I wanted to contrast the raw texture with the smooth modeling of the hand, reinforcing the tension between control and dissolution.
The setting of Chios had a profound impact on this work: the heat, the white glowing sun, the light reflecting off the marble blocks, and the intense conversations with suffering sculptors all became part of the creative process. It was a battle with the stone, with history, with the place itself.
Ultimately, Delirium of a Cyclops is a reflection on perception, not just that of the figure, but also that of the viewer. What do we truly see when we look at something? What do we perceive, and what remains hidden? Is good red vine always a solution?
I hope that anyone standing before this sculpture will ask themselves these questions and perhaps, for a moment, find themselves in a delirium of perception.
Chios (Greece) 2011
