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INTERIOR SPACE PEPERINO II 1999 Peperino di Viterbo In the mid-1990s I embarked on a new series of sculptures called Interior Space. This marked a recognition of both my minimalist roots and fascination with Egyptian and Italian antiquity. These sarcophagus-like boxes are evocations of the after life, of silence and non-material or metaphysical space. I began the series in Egypt with an Interior Space for an exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute (Leeds 1995). This was followed by a series in stones from Tuscany for an exhibition in the Piazza del Duomo in Siena : two were of travertine, one of Carrara marble and three of peperino. This latter material – a kind of tufa – was the first building stone of Rome. The work shows the volcanic origin of the stone, its roof made up of raw matter thrown-up by the volcanoes to the north of Rome, a piece of Italian geography planted in South Shropshire. © Stephen Cox 2006
