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Stone Carver and Maker of Meaning
Our Stars and Stripes ‘24
"I started to slash and burn on July 4th 2024........
By that time, the slab of stone had only been in my possession for one year. The material had already traveled some 200 miles in that time, down the mountain, out to the vast yards of the fabrication shop, loaded and unloaded and loaded again. By the time I had a chance to gather its dimensions, and test its hardness, it was back in Marble at the foot of the mountains where it was formed.
Sometimes an idea will shape the stone, sometimes the shape of the stone makes a way for the ideas. In either case, the relationship between the material and the concept must be charted within the sphere of the artists life. It must Include whatever turbulence or serenity may be present.
In the months preceding my time in Marble, the sphere of my life was a storm. Charged with uncertain political situations, molting relationships, and a significant cross roads. All seemed to be demanding conviction from me. So I talk to the stone. I talk to that slab to be specific. I offer it time and power. In return it offers space. It opens its body as a vessel and it accepts the intrusion of my creative ideas.
The stone offers passage into the future with the cargo of my symbols. In return this cargo may protect the stone. It may oblige those who can, to care for the stone, and preserve it into the future. So the slab was there, it was telling me, it was our stars and stripes. In a soft emanation, a very slight invitation, to draw out stars and stripes in some configuration. Our stars and stripes; symbols of our brilliance and our history, our creativity and our story, our power and our heritage.
Since 1789 every four years a cycle of leadership washes over the contours of North America. Shaping the sheds and laying down the texture of a time. In July 2024 the thunder heads of
such a cycle, swollen with anticipation, had gathered, poised to make their deluge known. That's fine weather for fishing in the swells of symbolism. And from what I'd been hearing, the folks at home where hungry for a fresh take.
So I cast nets, knowing the weather be wicked, but knowing the window be open. Now I have cast nets before, and indeed I have pulled up both minnows and monsters. However the storms of ‘24 were legendary, and I had a hunch they may stir some rare creatures from the deep.
WILD + GREED + WAR + GARDEN
Such was the catch. Four themes, four motifs to explore. Two for the light, two for the dark. The cardinal directions, the seasons, the oscillation between the poles making audible the Oming world.
WILD, the Spring, a creative and fertile time. The embodiment of evolving life and the thrust of spirit into matter.
GREED, the insatiable hunger. The future infanticide that we all partake in today. The heat of the Summer.
WAR, the Fall. The loss of control, and the destruction of what we hold most dear.
GARDEN, the seeds of the future. To cultivate, care and curate. The winter, where the dreams of the next cycle are most clearly seen.
I love this country. I love it in all of its seasons. Sometimes its too hot, sometimes its too cold. Sometimes the weather is so extreme, the wind so fierce, it feels as if everything might be blown away.
Sometimes its quite and still, and the air is so soft and so close to the temperature of your own body, it can be difficult to feel anything at all.
Four flags, four seasons, words for each season, symbols for each flag. Stories of what we can be, an accounting of what we are. Looking directly at the polarity and appreciating the symmetry. As the seasons change the soul changes, we grow and erode over the years. One chapter gives way to another and still there will be another after that.
Change is ongoing and it is unpredictable. As an artist I fish for context, not closure. I hope to explore, not conquer, and to walk with, not above, all the other souls through this strange time on this beautiful planet."
- Lucas Beau Leone
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