ARTIST STATEMENT / PAGE 54
Presence
in stone.
My practice centres on the human face as an enduring structure, not a portrait, but presence.
Working primarily in limestone, I carve through reduction. Form emerges by removal, distilled to its essential geometry while retaining psychological weight and recognisable humanity. I am interested in how far the face can be simplified without losing its power.
Each sculpture holds tension between rough and refined. Fractured stone remains alongside polished planes, allowing geological history to coexist with contemporary form. Carved apertures, often piercing or linking faces, invite light to pass through the work, creating a shared viewpoint and activating the space around it.
Though grounded in disciplined proportion, the process remains physical and intuitive, a negotiation between control and surrender to the material.
I am increasingly drawn to monumentality. Even at smaller scales, the works aim to feel protective and grounded, forms that impose quiet strength from a distance, yet invite touch, pause, and reflection up close.
Through reduction, I seek to create distilled human structures that feel both ancient and immediate symbols of presence, endurance, and our shared search for meaning in space and time.
James Stephenson · Collect Art, Volume 100