Heads or Tails

Last weekend saw the leaves in color,  clinging fast to the last vestiges of summer. 
The fog rolls in and taking half the day to clear, the sun reveals autumn...
It is time for letting go. 

It took a while to finish this one, I started it in 2004 then put it aside, published some books, started a snowflake collection, played some chess, traveled, visited with friends and relations. I would work on this carving whenever I had a spare moment, and in those moments had the time to reflect on important matters such as the Elizabethan notion of artifice; transformation, and the relevance of les objets de virtu in the age of the smart phones. And so this piece is finished, made in hematite, carved by my hand using diamonds and water.  Heads, tails, its your call. Things happen gradually in nature,  invisible processes working away in their own time. Then, in the flashing of an instant we notice,  everything is different. Context is variable.

 robertchaplin (at) lightspeed (dot) ca
-Copy Cats are Dirty Rats

Photo Credit: Peter Lattimer

Royal Canadian Snowball

This snowflake tessellation incorporates principals of geometry to randomize the surface of a sphere. Carved by my hand using diamonds and water, this piece was commissioned by Deana Grinnell for Jim Smerdon's 40th birthday. The latest addition to The Royal Canadian Snowflake Collection, lead crystal completely carved, a Royal Canadian Snowball. Heat resistant to 600 degrees centigrade because context is variable.

Photo Credit: James Manning Smerdon

The Brussels Sprouts of New York

Phillips established in 1796

Papaya King since 1932

Manhattan fire hydrant

The Cloisters

in Cesare’s Sprouts

Near Joe‘s

I was surprised by an exquisite gift, a short notice trip! so I brought my silver sprout to do a little research on this question, is context everything ? Picture the Brussels sprout in New York City,  seen with an Ellsworth Kelly at Phillips, which by the way sold for a very respectable price. Picture the silver sprout in spaces sacred, profane, street, and mundane. It is my postulation that a work of art creates it’s own context and surrounds itself with magic, transforming the world, leading us to state of wonder...context is variable !

Thanks Scott !

For Brussels Sprout in Bronze or Sterling

current Price $1050.

Thanks Mark !

 

Happy Valentines Day

With all due respect this heart I've  made in solid copper, it warms up quickly in the hand. I hope that you enjoy this picture, a great piece is good no matter where you find, gallery, museum, library or pocket, context is variable.

Wittgenstein’s House

You took me to Wittgenstein’s house and on that day my world changed, happiest day ever ! and I've the pictures to prove it. Duck meet Bunny, Bunny meet Duck. Same and different, state dependent, duckbunny. On this concept Wittgenstein footnotes Jastrow, but I expanded it from head to whole figure. Cast in rose gold I had the eye set with a diamond...because  you're worth it, context is variable.

 robertchaplin (at) lightspeed (dot) ca
-Copy Cats are Dirty Rats

Photo Credit: Peter Lattimer