From the early linear tracings of a continuous line on the surface of a stone, these works led on to clasping a stone - skin to skin, living body to inert material - that made the 

The first version was made in a wood outside Brighton in 1979. Later ones are made from stones taken from the sea off the island of Portland and inscribed with a full body outline.

 at the British Library in London: eight granite glacial erratics, each inscribed with a different body silhouette.

I wanted to reverse Michelangelo’s slaves, where a quarried square rock had to conform to the represented body. In 

, the outline of the body conforms to the stone, suggesting a dependency.

The outline was carved to an adequate depth, where the form was beginning to be self-revealed, so is on the cusp between a drawing and the arising of self-determined form.

Man Rock And Planets

, 1982, Portland stone, 60 × 80 × 60 cm.

Man Rock I

, 1982, Portland stone, 128 × 104 × 63 cm.

Man Rock II

, 1983, Portland stone, 51 × 73 × 65 cm.

Man Rock IV

, 2002, glacial erratic boulders, 8 boulders, various sizes. Permanent installation, British Library, London, UK.

Planets

, 2024, andesite stone, 59 × 107 × 55 cm. Commissioned by Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024. Photograph by Nakamura Osamu.

Man Rock And Planets

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