It seems as though we have a desire from birth to pile shit on top of other shit. Alphabet blocks transition into beer can stacking, ending in professional careers as construction workers, architects and longshoremen. Enter Stephen Kettle– slate sculpture artist who painstakingly stacks thousands of slivers of thin stone into unbelievable pieces of art. Kettle has had a pretty interesting life outside of his OCD art form; as a member of the Oxford Dangerous Sports club, he was one of five men thrown over 100 yards from a medieval trebuchet that was so large it had to be loaded with a Range Rover, which sounds pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the fifth man was thrown to his death, and this apparently convinced Kettle that sculpting was a much better lifestyle and occupational choice. While maybe not as badass, that choice has worked out well, with his pieces being displayed in galleries and museums around the UK.
Slate Sculpture by Stephen Kettle
These incredible statues are fabricated out of tonnes of thin slate stones, and are often assembled around heavy steel armatures. The level of detail that Kettle achieves with these thin wafers of rock is absolutely mind blowing. The photos look phenomenal, but apparently are even greater triumphs of light and shadow in person. In the case of the Allen Turing statue, it took over 18 months to build and to carefully recreate subtle hints of his unkempt nature into the slate tribute.
thank you for your kind words about my works. stephen
I am not, myself, an artsy person, but every so often I stumble upon something online like this and I can’t help but marvel at how beautiful it is and how amazing an artist’s vision, patience, and attention to detail must be to create such a work.
I am a huge fan of Stephens work since seeing the mole capturing the worm done in slate at Garwnant forest. Keep up the fantastic work.