Machine-Generated Stone Carving

1990
London

These works were made in 1990 using a machine normally used for making inexpensive gravestones. This pre-computer technology uses a pantograph system to follow a series of 3 dimensional templates, which create depth in the stone. However the system poorly mimics the hand drawn feel of a human stone carver. Instead the ‘restrictions’ of the machine were used to create work that was appropriate and obviously created using it. What results is a curious hybrid of old an new. 1990 was a time when technology radically changed all aspects of art and craft, the text therefore on these pieces deals with these issues of technology. These pieces also question the different monumental and ephemeral qualities of stone versus paper through the incorporation of mistakes and graffiti.