Lapis Eyes for Jonathan Baldock’s ‘0.1%’

Lapis Lazuli carved eyes for exhibition centrepiece

The Mother Goddess, centrepiece for Jonathan Baldocks ‘0.1%’ Exhibition at the London Mithraeum

Once the orientation of each stone was confirmed, the stones were cut to provide a flat base and the shape of each stone was transposed to each base and grinding of the shapes began.

The depths of each stone were then taken from the foam maquette and once ground to the correct heights, ‘facets’ were then ground onto the face of each stone and polished.

Finally, with the help of Powderhall Bronze, where the head was being cast, we were able to have access to the nearly finished bronze so that each eye could be fine tuned to fit. Since there is a roughly 3% shrinkage from model to finished bronze, each stone required some finessing around the edges using a rotary tool and various diamond burrs to achieve a close fit.

The resulting work can be seen at The London Maithraeum Bloomberg Space until July 5th and a short documentary by Bloomberg on the 0.1% exhibition is available on YouTube. – ‘0.1%’ by Jonathan Baldock

“Jonathan Baldock crafts wild magic in his immersive exhibitions. Working primarily with clay and natural textiles, the British artist weaves together pagan traditions, expressive natural forms, and the deep connection he shares with the women in his family. For ‘0.1%’ at London Mithraum Bloomberg Space, he challenges the patriarchal roots of this former Roman Temple, which was built to worship the macho god of justice and war. A four-metre-tall mother-goddess figure towers over the exhibition.

The head of the figure is based on a sculpture the artist made of his mother when he was a child; he has scaled it up in bronze, with lapis lazuli embellishments. ‘I remember making this figure from earth dug out of the back garden. Kent soil is claylike; it’s raw and sticky. Like a lot of parents, she told me it was incredible! I remember feeling very proud.'”

— Emily Steer, wallpaper.com