Eye I Captain is the sixth in my series of abstract and intuitive limited edition bronze relief sculptures. A series of sculptural mind maps, translating my subconscious thought into cranked clay relief and cast in bronze using the lost wax process.
Eye I Captain
Bronze relief wall sculpture
19 H x 22 W x 4 D cm
Edition of 9
£1,400
Finding meaning
Like a cryptic crossword clue, the ambiguity of title and form invites you to solve the riddle. Alternatively find your own associations and personal meaning. Both are equally as valid.
I didn’t start with any fixed ideas for Eye I Captain. However, the nature of emerging concentric forms, soon suggested and established guiding principles and a theoretical background.
Ouroboros
The Ouroboros, an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail, fascinates me. It is often interpreted as a symbol of the cycle of birth and death. In Eye I Captain I consider Carl Jung’s view of the Ouroboros as a ‘symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow’. In other words, as a metaphor for the cyclical struggle for peace of mind.
Eye I Captain – a cryptic name
Composed of a series of concentric circles and radius lines. As your eye is drawn to the centre, an eye can be seen to stare back.
‘Eye’, ‘I’ and ‘Aye’ are homophones. So, the name Eye I Captain plays on the naval term ‘Aye aye, captain’ and alludes to nautical idioms for the human condition. For instance: ‘captain of your ship’ and by extension: ‘all at sea’, ‘weathering the storm’, ‘calm waters’ and so on.
The eye of the storm
The central eye seems to emit a refracted light, which, too soon, appears to morph into the teeth of a surrounding jaw, rising like a looming wall, patterned with composite triangles to reflect the zigzag of the teeth and shards of light; a theme continued in the triangular peaks and troughs of the outer structure.
Competing patterns
The triangle pattern spreads in obsessive repetition to cover all elements emanating from the jaw, while those leading from the eye describe calm arcs broken here and there as if by concentric ripples. The two pattern types seem to struggle for dominance. However, a capillary wave overruns the triangles on the single contested arm.
