Artworks2012Kissing Stone

This kissing stone is made of a used granite curb stone from Hackney, historically granite paving stones signified investment and longevity, the road was a permanent placing, whereas the newly formed concrete or cement replacements give it a transient quality.

The viewer is asked to interact with the stone by kissing it. Reversing the usual ‘do not touch the art’ barrier between the viewer and the artwork, you are now asked to bend down and kiss it. In turn become part of the performance, one corner of the kissing stone is smoothed through a process that appears to be centuries of kissing. By touching the stone there is a transfer of energy, the performer is imbued with the gift of creativity. Reminding us of the rubbing of Buddhas belly or St. Peter’s foot in the Vatican, also the Blarney Stone, which when kissed endows the kisser with the gift of the gab.

There is a saying, that if you are to fall over and hit your face, possibly when you’re drunk, or pushed, it could be said that you have kissed the curb.

A small standing stone, alluding to a mystical marker of something buried underground.