Olmec Culture Mexico, Circa. 1200 BC-Circa. 400 BC
asexual figure, Circa. 900 - 400 BC
Jadeite
21,2 cm high
8'3" in high
8'3" in high
OLM0006
Copyright The Artist
Stone, silence, absence. He stands, not in motion, but in memory. From the deep green heart of ancient Mesoamerica, carved long before the first word was spoken, a figure emerges....
Stone, silence, absence.
He stands, not in motion, but in memory.
From the deep green heart of ancient Mesoamerica, carved long before the first word was spoken, a figure emerges. Only 22 centimeters tall, yet immense in presence. Monumental not in form, but in silence. A silence that carries the weight of beginnings, the breath before history, the moment when myth became flesh.
His body is still. Legs joined, posture upright, gaze fixed not on the world, but inward, into the stone’s own dream. The left arm is missing. Time may have taken it, or ceremony may have demanded it. What is gone is not lost. It speaks in absence.
This is no mere sculpture. It is a boundary, a sentinel, a portal.
To carve a figure was to invoke a spirit. This one, perhaps a man, perhaps a god, belongs to both. His features bear the calm gravity of transformation. The mouth curves downward, not in sadness but in meditation. He does not speak. He listens.
Perhaps he was once buried in ritual, offered to the earth, entrusted to silence. Now he returns, quiet but unwavering, reminding us that under the skin of history there is always myth, and beneath myth, something older still. Stillness without end.
He stands, not in motion, but in memory.
From the deep green heart of ancient Mesoamerica, carved long before the first word was spoken, a figure emerges. Only 22 centimeters tall, yet immense in presence. Monumental not in form, but in silence. A silence that carries the weight of beginnings, the breath before history, the moment when myth became flesh.
His body is still. Legs joined, posture upright, gaze fixed not on the world, but inward, into the stone’s own dream. The left arm is missing. Time may have taken it, or ceremony may have demanded it. What is gone is not lost. It speaks in absence.
This is no mere sculpture. It is a boundary, a sentinel, a portal.
To carve a figure was to invoke a spirit. This one, perhaps a man, perhaps a god, belongs to both. His features bear the calm gravity of transformation. The mouth curves downward, not in sadness but in meditation. He does not speak. He listens.
Perhaps he was once buried in ritual, offered to the earth, entrusted to silence. Now he returns, quiet but unwavering, reminding us that under the skin of history there is always myth, and beneath myth, something older still. Stillness without end.
Exhibitions
-“TEFAF Maastricht”, exh. cat., from March 3rd to 13th 2005, Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre, Maastricht, Stand 258, pp. 33, 35 and 54, fig. 38.-“Salon du Collectionneur”, 2nd Edition, exh. cat., from September 16th to 25th 2005, Carroussel du Louvre, Paris, stand 28, p. 27, fig. 17.
-“Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique”, 53th Edition, exh. cat., from January 16th to 27th 2006, Tour & Taxis, Brussels, Stand 2, pp. 4, 5, 6 and 7, fig. 35.
-“Biennale des Antiquaires”, 24th Edition, exh. cat., from September 11th to 21st 2008, Grand Palais, Paris, Stand E8, pp. 48 and 49, fig. 7.
-"Exposé à l'Armory show NY 14-18 Nov 2013" (cf catalogue)
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