It is an odd time to feel any sense of celebration or achievement when the world around us is dealing with much more critical issues. The amount of lives that have been lost due to the pandemic and the way our daily lives have changed in such a short time have set a new normal that was unfathomable earlier this year. The racial injustice which has plagued this country and the rest of the world for far too long is finally not just a fact we were all aware of but has given rise to a movement, one that hStefan Rinck’s crocodiles are inspired by ancient myths, rooted in the distant past. Fascinating yet fearsome creatures, crocodiles have been the subject of many legends. The ancient Egyptian city of Crocodilopolis comes to mind, whose inhabitants worshipped the crocodile-headed god Sobek or the cruel Roman emperor Heliogabalus who raised a crocodile as a pet. Stylized by Stefan Rinck into a creature of fantastic verve, his sculpture is the result of a patient technique of direct carving, which implies a close relationship with the material, tools and skills involved.
Through his choice of subject and its translation into white marble drawn from the bowels of the earth, Rinck intertwines narratives of various origins and suggests a re-reading of time and the world on a geological scale.
