CHESS IN PIETRE DURE
Marble with semi-precious stone inlay (lapis lazuli, tiger eye, malachite, carnelian) 29" x 26" x 3"
Base: "purple wood" 24" x 27" x 28"
Permanent installation in public space, Charlotte, North Carolina, realized July 2006.
More poetic metaphor then prosaic object, the "Chandelier" eschews the condition of emitting light for a desire to embody colored luminescence; matter in a plasmatic state. Gasious and electrically charged, it is the stuff of stars. Amorphous color is given tangibility by arresting its fluid motion in a concomitant relationship to curving, formal structure.
Joseph Karoly
Permanent outdoor installation, Charlotte, North Carolina, realized July 2006.
Water white, acid washed laminated glass. Four panels 120" x 48" x 2".
The "Levitation" refers to a phenomenal condition that is outside normal experience. It suggests weightlessness contrary to the laws of gravity as well as evoking a relaxing of psychological gravitas. This sculptural proposal transforms a common material into an encounter with the sublime. My choice of materials, industrial glass, allows for the object to contain its own dichotomy as well as to serve as a metaphor regarding a meditation on our metaphysical desires. The glass is translucent, appearing ephemeral and vulnerable, yet its physical substance is extremely strong and its weight belies its weightless appearance. The system of illumination suggests a space where the spiritual and the earthbound produce a location for a theophanic effect (where Heaven and Earth meet). This illusion of weightlessness links this moment of perceptual levitation to human morphology and the notion of spiritual transcendence.
Joseph Karoly
BEVERLY HILLS, CA
Materials: White marble with tiger eye and lapis lazuli inlay. Dimensions: 29" x 24" x 23"
This fountain is done using the time-honored Pietre Dure technique. Created in a base of pristine white marble, the lapis lazuli inlay offer a sense of calm, protection, and peace of mind, with heavenly blue accents that are said to send the soul into heavenly contemplation. Paired with the grounding deep browns of the tiger eye, the skyward lapis lazuli is balanced by the protective, logical, and fearless nature of the tiger eye inlay. Water pours down the structure infinitely, representing a timelessness and personal Fountain of Youth.
