Static in Time Immobile in Motion

walking stick

1995-2009

silver, ebony, amber, Carrara marble, Venice crystal and meteorite h 102 cm (LED internally lit)

Dedicated to Salvador Dali and Alessandro Ruspoli

An opulent walking stick made of silver, ebony and ivory.

The wielder holds the claws of a condor's right foot. Each individual claw grips spheres of North Sea amber, Carrara marble, Murano crystal and a meteorite found in the Argentinian pampas.

At the top of the stick is a rock-crystal sphere, which emits a turquoise light (for an explanation of the use of the colour turquoise, see  ‘ArseTronomy’). When the crystal is illuminated, subtle variations in its reflection, caused by the impurities within it, are similar to the reflections of interstellar gas when photographed.

The stick brings to mind the surrealist Salvador Dalì, and one of the artist’s friends, Alessandro Ruspoli the 9th Prince of Cerveteri: poet, occasional actor and eccentric aristocrat, who is said to have inspired Federico Fellini into making his famous movie La Dolce Vita, and who became known for his extravagant lifestyle in the 1950s and ‘60s.

 ‘Onward I race like the roll of the wave
Static in time
Immobile in motion’

...From a poem by Alessandro Ruspoli
(Translation from the Italian by Lorenzo)