Artwork of the month - video (56 sec)

Stèle - Silver Rain

Year	2022
Size	46 cm x 19.5 cm x 14 cm
Materials	Black clay, glaze, silver
Options	/
Edition	1/1
For Sale	Yes, contact our gallery Fred&Ferry (Antwerp, BE)
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Silver Rain Stele is the second stele in R&F F&R’s oeuvre to date. This stele refers not to a single event but rather to a period of transformation. Here the cosmic rain seems to herald an apocalyptic end of times, while the physical cut-out in the stele suggests an exit to a safer place or another dimension.

Other interpretations are possible, however: the work also alludes to a poem by the American poet Langston Hughes: ‘In Time of Silver Rain’ from 1947. In it, Hughes paints a beautiful picture of a world awakening from a deep slumber, with new life springing up all around. Hughes refers to this vital act of creation as ‘the wonder’.

Frank and Robbert both recently became fathers to baby daughters. A personal development that cannot fail to leave impressions. Their previous stele, Telling Stories, was a depiction of oral tradition and how we pass information onto subsequent generations through stories. It showed the protagonists in their human cocoon, actively using symbols. Bending the world to their will.

In contrast, this Silver Rain Stele shows the protagonist at the mercy of the elements of a cosmic Nature. The world is undergoing major change: fertile mana is falling from the heavens and the earth is ready to receive. The round shapes in the sky are abstractions. Might they represent other liveable planets? Are they satellites or celestial bodies? Are the stars flooding the earth with light and driving photosynthesis?

How do we minuscule humans relate to this mighty spectacle?

R&F F&R raise questions without answering them. They evoke possibilities and it is up to the viewer to explore them.

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