SPHINX 2 SERIES
A Pair of Guardian Book Shelves
The image/narrative is one of a relatively easy relationship between the visitor, which has taken up residence and the constructed Architectonic element that hosts it. Structurally that relationship is realized through the two elements, while being made in different timbers (Silver Ash or Huon Pine and Mahogany) with contrasting colours/finishes (ebonized and natural), having a comfortable, symbiotic fit – the deities have insinuated themselves into the nooks and crevices of the built space with a sense of belonging, rather than threat. The design allows for a gentle metamorphosis of form, matching perfectly at the point of intersection, to represent intent and belonging rather than threat and invasion.
Here, the Teraph iconography is melded with that of the Sphinx, an image that presents as the watcher through the ages but with an undercurrent of threat. The Sphinx of Greek myth guarded the road to Thebes and punished those unable to answer a riddle with instant death. However these works were intended to edge towards the protective and so they reference the Egyptian ram-headed Sphinxes at the Great Temple of Amon-Ra at Karnak, near Thebes, lining up in a processional configuration presenting to the front – regular, mute, and watching.
The Sphinx 1 Series is comprised of closed cabinets - protective, encompassing and holding safe. They represent a dual guardianship; inward: watching over the objects they contain, as well as outward: watching over the space in which they sit.
The Sphinx 2 Series. Is open and inviting. The lip form at top and bottom invokes a further image of the holding of the archetype of the book - knowledge, history, and human narrative in print and image- within its grasp, within its open mouth. In the tradition of the Wunderkammer, holding the works of god and man, they are prosaically, book shelves but more poetically, a book repository.
