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Christopher Stone was born in London in 1955. After obtaining his City and Guilds certificate in Cabinet Making he began two years full time work experience with artist designer Ralph Hampton in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. He learned Antique restoration at the De Seidner galleries in London, England. He participated as an Artist/Designer in the World’s Trade Fair in Seville, Spain in 1992 for the both the British and Spanish pavilions. His interests led him to make prolonged visits to Luxor, Assuan, and Cairo to study Egyptology and also to the Czech Republic to study Eastern European art. Stone’s sculptures of the human body work intimately with the grain and the flow inherent in his material, usually marble, as he creates his subtly powerful pieces. Thanks to his early training in cabinetmaking, Chris’ craft invokes the textures of the stone with a woodworker’s skill. His pieces also at times have a fluid look that varies from realistic depictions of the body to more abstract, stylized and dramatic pieces. Whatever form his work takes, however, Chris is first and foremost always engaging in a dialectic with his chosen material. His finished shapes curve and wrap around the stone, as well as support and highlight the qualities which make stone aesthetically pleasing—its weight and luminescence, and the surprising spectrum of its thicknesses and textures. Chris Stone’s sculptures bring out both the creaminess of stone as well as its durability, and he creates stunning pieces which nurture our desire for engaging visual forms. Artist's Statement
"To be born, a sculpture needs love and dedication right to the end..... direct or free carving is for me the closest one can get to original concept.... cutting direct into the stone has no alternatives..... I try to create a feeling, a wish, or a dream - not a sequence of similar items, not a style, but a complete random exercise in creativity..... my style is that I don't have a style. Look at the piece, love it or hate it, but don’t try to understand it... I create because I must create. My task as a carver is to make the things I see in my mind.....there is no difference between my original idea and the 3D work in stone. I do not carve what I see, I carve what I have in my heart, the beauties of appearance must not smother the beauties of thought...all my pieces are unique, more because I cannot do the same thing twice with the same energy of the original." ~Christopher Stone
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