Keir Smith

Description

St Sigismondo, a Renaissance church in Cremona, provided Keir Smith with the point of departure in developing his ideas for this sculpture. Since he has had a long and academic interest in the art of the Renaissance throughout his career, it may seem surprising that this passion has not surfaced before in Smith's work. This dormant force was unleashed when he made his first visit to Italy in 1989, and on a typically hot and dusty August afternoon came across the church. The cool, dark interior, with light from the high rose window in the west wall pouring into the chapel of Saints Caterina and Cecilia on the northern side of the church, had a significant impact on Smith, and has directly informed the palpable nature of the sculpture. This experience coincided with a period of continual drawing, which from time to time Smith has pursued to the exclusion of working in three dimensions. Drawing in such a concentrated manner, searching for form and content which he could bring together in his sculpture, resulted in The Cremona Wilderness, a series of works in watercolour and pencil on paper depicting objects and buildings in barren rocky landscapes.

Stefano emerged from the series, together with another sculpture, The Tomb of Francesco, on which Keir Smith has worked concurrently.

St Stephen was stoned to death for blasphemy, and the pile of stones viewed beyond the portion of the church, together with the single rock on the altar piece of the sculpture, have become icons for the martyr. The sculpture represents a section through the church of St Sigismondo with its walls dissolved to reveal the cairn of golden stones and the distant landscape. Absorbing the landscape into the sculpture in this way was a theme of Smith's earlier work, which was made almost entirely to commission and in response to particular sites. Here the landscape is incidental, but acknowledged.