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October 1987. Painted granite, painted steel. Dimensions: 85 × 57 × 22 in (216 × 145 × 56 cm).
Pyxis Awry takes its title from Pyxis, the small southern constellation whose Latin name refers to a mariner’s compass, and awry—askew or off course. Created in 1987, it was the first work in what became my Pyxis series to feature the vessel form, historically understood in art and literature as a metaphor for the self, a group, or humankind. Here the vessel and the idea of a faulty compass come together: when our bearings are awry, we risk becoming adrift, untethered, and off course. It was created as a stealthy warning to the newly emerging awareness of what was then called “global warming”.
The sculpture established a metaphor that would reappear throughout my work, particularly in the Portals and Passages, Passage, and later Sisyphean Holiday series, where the vessel becomes a carrier through physical and metaphorical journeys. In Pyxis Awry, navigation becomes a way of questioning the choices and courses we set for ourselves, individually and collectively, and the consequences that follow. Those consequences may be personal, political, or environmental, allowing the sculpture to speak broadly about direction, responsibility, and the uncertainty of finding one’s way.
October 1987. Painted granite, painted steel. Dimensions: 85 × 57 × 22 in (216 × 145 × 56 cm).
Pyxis Awry takes its title from Pyxis, the small southern constellation whose Latin name refers to a mariner’s compass, and awry—askew or off course. Created in 1987, it was the first work in what became my Pyxis series to feature the vessel form, historically understood in art and literature as a metaphor for the self, a group, or humankind. Here the vessel and the idea of a faulty compass come together: when our bearings are awry, we risk becoming adrift, untethered, and off course. It was created as a stealthy warning to the newly emerging awareness of what was then called “global warming”.
The sculpture established a metaphor that would reappear throughout my work, particularly in the Portals and Passages, Passage, and later Sisyphean Holiday series, where the vessel becomes a carrier through physical and metaphorical journeys. In Pyxis Awry, navigation becomes a way of questioning the choices and courses we set for ourselves, individually and collectively, and the consequences that follow. Those consequences may be personal, political, or environmental, allowing the sculpture to speak broadly about direction, responsibility, and the uncertainty of finding one’s way.