I’ve made this photograph available as a print in either 8″x12″ or 16″x20″ size in my online print store. The photo will be mounted on 1/4″ black foam artboard and will be shipped inside a sleeve with cardboard reinforcement.  Also, if you have a custom order I’d be glad to fill it.

View the rest of posts in this series

View the rest of posts in this series

View the rest of posts in this series

I began a series in my mind a little over a month ago, and while the specific stylistic and philosophical parameters are still being articulated as I pursue the process, the narrative in its roughest form is there.

The Cornerstone is the piece in the building around which all other pieces are held together, so that all other stones in a structure are set in reference to this stone, therefore determining (and holding together) the final structure of a building. In this way, the cornerstone is a sort of a beginning and an end; for without it the building has no structure, no resilience, and it would crumble.

For obvious reasons the cornerstone has taken up extreme importance symbolically, particularly in terms of sacred architecture, since the cornerstone represents the authority or “final word” for the construction of the building.  In specifically Christian circles, it is Christ who is the cornerstone for the whole building of Humanity. The image being that, while though many parts compose the whole building, one is responsible for providing the foundation, the structure, and the cohesion.

Although the cornerstone does symbolize wholeness, completion and these things, my particular goal in moving forward was to document buildings in major cities, comparing man-created structures to the Created Order.

Point being that while the building might be gigantic and towering, it compares not to the mountains;  that while some city lightpost may be (even austerely) grand and bright, no source of light compares to the luminance of the Sun itself — or rather the Source of its light.  So while man-made structures might tower above us on the ground below, and they might be aesthetically remarkable and baffling, even the greatest among these will never match the grandeur of the Created Order, regardless whatever efforts.

This is the general theme with which I’m playing here, and again, I welcome and expect that as the process grows longer, the articulation richer.  The remainder of pieces in this series will be tagged An Order to Create, which is a compression of the idea that in the image of humanity is inherent a desire to work, to build, to create, and to bring flesh to ideas.

March 8, 2009 + Austin, Texas

Soundtrack: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Love Comes to Me