Birth of the Messenger
Viktor
1998
MATERIAL: stone: Barre granite
DIMENSIONS: overall: 89 in x 58 in x 19 in
EDITION: Unique
CREDIT: Grounds For Sculpture, Gift of The Seward Johnson Atelier
© Artist or Artist's Estate
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Viewed from the front, 'Birth of the Messenger', carved from gray granite, portrays the head and torso of a nude female figure who is pregnant. With softened contours, she emerges almost ghost-like from an arched niche, a traditional architectural recess built into a wall to display statues. The artist depicts the "messenger" coming into the human world through "conventional" means. On the opposite side of the work, a male figure is enclosed in an upward oriented niche, as if dropped there by a divine power. The figurative and architectural elements of the composition pay tribute to the history of sculpture. The use of stone, a universal medium from which a multitude of statues and monuments have been made, further adds to this continuum.
