Ian Hamilton Finlay
The World Has Been Empty Since the Romans
1985
L 735 cm
unique
Description
These slabs of stone, resembling fragments from a Roman archaeological site, with their carefully inscribed words in classical letter-form, are a very bleak statement. Made in collaboration with a stone mason, the poem sets up trails of thoughts about European culture. But is this rhetoric? Is it a metaphor? Finlay proposes the right sentiment through the most appropriate medium, and we believe that at Hat Hill, close to evidence of Roman occupation, the sculpture has found its most fitting place.









