“…the thrill of her eternity.” (A Landscape in DNA), Stourhead (maquette), Paul Tuppeny 2018

“Our art must render the thrill of her permanence… It must give us a taste of her eternity”.  (Cezanne†)

Cezanne’s words are taken from a conversation recalled by his friend, Joachim Gasquet, in which the artist outlines the facets of nature that he seeks to capture in his paintings

“the thrill of her eternity” is a sculptural work that evokes our knowledge of the mechanisms by which nature perpetuates herself; the sculpture contains all of the information necessary to recreate the landscape that unfolds in front of us; the experience of seeing is transcended by that of knowing.

The work takes the form of a sealed double glazed ‘window’ looking onto the English Landscape garden at Stourhead. Between the two sheets of glass are held translucent glass ‘slides’ which carry small fragments of the plants and animals that make up the landscape beyond; specks of leaf, seeds, invertebrate segments, feathers fragments or animal hairs, presented in the manner of a scientific or CSI analysis.

Each slide will carry many specks grouped according to phylum, zone or other classification. The slides are arranged on the glass panel to reflect broad habitat type.

The glass unit is held in a simple painted steel frame supported from one corner on the slope in front of the presented view. The architectural form and language of the sculpture continues the tradition of siting works of architecture within the park as a means of directing the eye.

†Gasquet; Cezanne: A Memoir with Conversations, London and New York 1991 (originally 1921