Tag: stone

Monsanto, Portugal

Photographers Unknown, The Village of Monsanto, Portugal

Monsanto is a village and a former civil parish in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha. It covered an area of 131.76 km² and had a 2011 population of 828 inhabitants.

It was the principal town of the concelho between 1174 and the beginning of the 19th century, and the county seat in the period of 1758-1853. In recent decades, Monsanto has become popularly known as “the most Portuguese village of Portugal” in a class of twelve classified historic villages in Portugal.

The emblem of Portugal, the Silver Rooster (Galo de Prata), designed by Abel Pereira da Silva, can be seen atop the Clock Tower or Lucano.

Romain Langlois

Stone and Bronze Sculptures by Romain Langlois

A self-taught sculptor, Romain Langlois studied medical books and anatomical charts to understand the human body, building his first sculptures using only plaster and clay. Seeking a more permanent material, Langlois turned to bronze, a metal he now incorporates into works that are inspired by nature rather than man.

His pieces visually pull apart the natural objects that surround us—building works that appear as bisected rocks, boulders, and tree trunks. These sculptures showcase glistening bronze protruding from their insides, unleashing the perceived inner energy of each object.

Jaehyo Lee

Sculptures by Jaehyo Lee

Since graduating in 1992 with a BFA from the Hong-Ik University Jaehyo Lee (1965, Hapchen, Korea) has gained acclaim both in his native Korea and internationally for his distinct yet intimately crafted oeuvre. Combining distinct traces of Land Art, Arte Povera and Minimalism Lee´s works cast a questioning eye over the roots of form, its function and its role within the natural world.

Jiyuseki

Jiyuseki, Stone Sculptures

Hirotoshi Itoh, a.k.a Jiyuseki, is a Japanese artist who works with purposefully difficult materials to create light-hearted sculptures that challenge the convention of that material.
To make his stone sculptures, Jiyuseki first collects suitable stones from the river near his house, worn smooth by the water. Each piece takes a lot of time and patience to fashion, but the results are worth it.

The sculptures juxtapose the hardness of the stone with humourous additions. From a stone ‘cushion’ with stuffing leaking out to a bulging purse, it seems that Jiyuseki is able to manipulate materials that are quite literally rock-hard to do anything he wants.