Clyde Basner  Stone Sculpture

The first time I held a hammer and chisel, I dislodged a stone fragment from its solid mass and felt the snaking energy of infinite curiosity.

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As I carve, that energy unfolds slowly, subtly, in communion with the material.

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My work is organized around a body of texts and ideas that have taken hold of me completely: the archive of Borges. These are not stories I illustrate but structures I inhabit. Each sculpture in the Borges Series is an attempt to make palpable what his language gestures toward.

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The marble on my workbench was formed over millions of years, compressed by ancient forces. We labor and dream together until it becomes a sculpture, breaks off from my heart and breathes on its own.