Ian Marr

About the work

‘Babel’ is a small evocation of the archetypal city, the charismatic gathering place & focus of most human lives, temple & market, sacred space & agora. The Gothic finial is likely from Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, taken to the sandstone quarry to be copied by banker masons. The inscribed slate top is from the Mintaro slate quarry in South Australia, the text from Genesis according to the King James Bible. The gilded fox head is a cast iron doorstop, possibly from the Stafford foundry in Hallett, South Australia. The base is crafted from Braidwood elm by Robert Crombie. The figurines are contemporary. The whole portmanteau is intended to be suggestive of a polylingual, polytheistic world view of the Iron Age.

 

About the artist

Ian Marr has worked in many forms of expression since the 1970s, in pen & ink drawing, large scale watercolour, oils on canvas, slate & copper sheet, & in lettercarving in slate, sandstone & granite. His inscription always works draw on shared culture, use poetry, scientific texts & common usage to create surprise & sensory engagement in public & private domains.