(The Song of Songs)











pierre de rêve marbre 2007 h22cm



77
unique

Unique were you born from the mountain’s womb a crystallized and veined marble. Unique, when the brook rocked you in its bed, pressing upon you its innumerable eddies as if to burst you, its patience as if to wear you away, its songs as if to rub you down and caress you as it pleased to this primeval and wild shape it proffered to me. Unique, yet buried, almost deserted when I uncovered you and picked you out of your rubbish and your gangue : a raw, latent, promising beauty. Unique among others, why did I choose you ?

“As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters.”

Unique was my lasting rapture when my hands grasped you and sculpted you back to your own self, a stately beauty with no equal on earth. Unique was our singular adventure : with you, I experienced such easiness, skilfulness.

“There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one.”

    Unique shall you forever be, for you could never be reproduced, and you thus spread around a scent of meditation and contemplation. As philosopher W. Benjamin put it : “the unique apparition of the remote, however near it may be”. What does it matter, then, whether you should be compared with other sculptures of mine regarded as even more singular in beauty and splendour. What I would fear, rather, is the risk of attack on your singularity when you are exhibited, exposed, hence depreciated, and, worse, when, on photos, websites etc, your sculptural bearing will be in danger of being cut off from view : you, a sculpture, you, meant to be grasped by eyes and nearness, by hands and caresses. Unique beyond all others have you become through the crushes you have inspired on yourself, as some people were taking you home in their dreams while others chose and purchased you. In any case, secret, precious, and forever mysterious about your intimate conquests.

“My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.”

(Translated by Michèle Bustros)