Jonathan Loxley

Description

Portal is a work whose two main faces differ greatly in texture but are bound by a common sense of movement. The textural contrast creates a startling aesthetic and serves to highlight the complex curves contained within the sculpture. Portal creates a sense of lightness and fluidity from a dark and solid mass. Whilst the smooth face is evocative of fossilised ferns, distant galaxies and other natural shapes and shadows, the grooved side adds a man-crafted element, accentuating every chip and curve like a three-dimensional line drawing. As one traces these stone folds with the eye, one suddenly becomes aware that the indentation spirals inward towards a lip, beyond which is a startling elliptical hole. This piercing adds an element of surprise to the formal qualities of the sculpture, and the juxtaposition creates immediate intrigue.

The title, Portal, literally means door, and the elongated, rectangular shape and human height suggests this. Perhaps, the curves represent ornamentation, or a voyeuristic draw of the gaze towards the semi-visible peephole. In science fiction, the word Portal has immediate implications of inter-dimensional travel through time or space.

In this context the curves are the ripples caused by a whirlpool-like black hole, dragging through all who are near into its vacuum, transporting them to an unknown other side. Similarly, Loxley's Portal transfers the eye up the tall face of the work and irresistibly pours the gaze through its spiral into the space beyond. In this way, thin air becomes as much a part of the piece as the solid marble, creating an intriguing work.