Garden sculpture 'Pan’ in red porphyry – completed!

My garden sculpture 'Pan’ is completed. With this sculpture I sought a connection with Nature, in the form of the Ancient Greek god Pan. I depicted him as a plump satyr on a convex column, on which reed plumes are engraved. The reed plumes refer to Pan's adventure with the nymph Syrinx and the origin of the Pan flute. After she fled from him, she turned into a bunch of reeds, after which Pan, somewhat disconsolately, plucked some stalks from it and made a flute from it.

Force of nature

While carving this statue, it gradually grew into a symbol of playfulness, nature and natural forces. It gradually developed a personality. I realized that I was starting to approach what first inspired by in 1985 in the Egyptian room of the Louvre: tranquil statues, but with a strong energy inside them. I have spent all these years trying to find that and now the connection between matter and inspiration is finally becoming clearly established in this sculpture.

Luring us in

These photos are just pictures, but you should actually experience it yourself in a deep garden with surprises around its corners and views, where you suddenly find yourself standing in front of this sculpture. It is meant to lure you deeper into the garden, a focal point on your walk. Maybe you would also see that little dancing faun that always likes to jump around it!

Porphyry

I carved this sculpture from one block of red porphyry, a very hard granite-like stone, which takes on a deep red shine when polished. But in this case, in order to avoid too much reflections, the sculpture was polished a bit less , so that an egg-gloss remains and the shapes remain easy to read. This stone can remain outside for years, just wipe away any algae deposits if it sits under the trees. The sculpture is 195 x 50 x 50 cms tall.

Chubby

This Pan is a somewhat touching figure, with his round belly and his cross-legged posture. Not the slender jumper that we would expect from a faun. Also more inward-looking, a bit shocked by those reed plumes. But soon the music and playfulness return. I tried to make him a little more approachable, so that he can help us make more contact with Nature, now that we spend most of our time indoors behind computers and smartphones.

Read more about making this sculpture in the previous blog posts: part 1↑, part 2as well ↑, part 3↑ and part 4↑.

Gallery: preliminary stages from rough sculpting to polishing and engraving