Cosmic Antenna

Belgian Black marble on a base of white italian marble.

The stone for this sculpture originated in Belgium, a country not very much known for its very dense, tight and uniformly black marble. To work with Belgium black marble is both rewarding and challenging. The dust is somewhat toxic and often left Graham with some nausea and headaches when we worked with a diamond saw on an angle grinder in the first very dusty roughing out stage. The stone is dry and brittle when carved, but because of the tightness, it has extraordinary strength and lends itself to very fine lines, as you can see in the Cosmic Antenna. Not very many other marbles would be up such sharp edges. Another outstanding quality is the brilliant polish you can achieve with this material. The final stage of the polishing, after the use of carborundum sticks, diamond blocks and sand paper of different grids, is the use of a polishing compound, a mixture of oxalic acid and tin oxide rubbed on as a paste if you work by hand, or a block of what is known as “pane” (bread in Italian), if you use a polishing head on a grinder. Graham and his wife Margit lived in Italy for 6 years from 1987, and after that Graham went back every 2 years for working trips. It is because of this ongoing and enduring connection with the people in the marble industry in Pietrasanta and Carrara, Tuscany, that Graham has access to most rare and high quality marble and onyx from all over the world as well as staying in touch with any upcoming new technology, which has changed substantially over these past 30 years. Apart from basic diamond saws for example, there were no other tools available using industrial diamonds. All finishing work was done with carborudum stones and wet and dry sandpaper of different grit. Now with diamond polishing blocks, the process became somewhat easier. A particular feature of the Cosmic Antenna is the large white marble base, the surfaces left rough as Graham found it in the marble yards of Pietrasanta. The natural raw surface heightens the refined features of the sculpture itself. The Cosmic Antenna is reaching out, looking for signs and guidance for the human plight.