Unexpected

On the 25th of August, Charles Zanon opened his sculpture exhibition ‘Unexpected’, at the Auroville Botanical Gardens, where he showcased a collection of pieces in black granite that he had been working on over the past year.

Charles’s background is widely eclectic and includes sculpture, but it was only after moving to Auroville that he started dedicating himself full time to this passion of his, or as he puts it, to the only thing that truly moves him creatively and makes sense to him at the moment, that which gives him the motivation and willpower to get up in the morning.

His journey working with the local black granite started a year ago. In the past, he worked with the classic white European marble, and he initially thought that changing to black granite would be a challenge because of its more dense tonality, but as he discovered this new medium, he found the experience wonderful and enriching, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities.

During the summer months, regardless of the extreme heat, he worked all day, every day to finish his creations, in spite of the sweat, dust and occasional pieces of granite sand getting stuck in his eyes. He was the first one to arrive at the workshop in the early mornings, and he says he did not even notice the heat or the physical fatigue, as if his efforts were carried by a creative muse.

For Charles, the process of creating a sculpture is a spiritual exploration of giving a concrete shape and bringing into matter something vast and impalpable, sourced from immaterial realms, from dimensions beyond space and time. He feels that taking inspiration from inner visions and shaping them abstractly into something so concretely rooted in matter such as stone is the essence of the artist’s exploration.

The outcome of his year of work was a dozen large, abstract statues, arranged near the centre of the Botanical Gardens. As one walks around one statue, it seems to fluidly morph into astonishingly different shapes. Different elements seem to play with the static stone and breathe life and movement into the sculptures. The contours seem to take on different shapes from different angles and distances, and the finishing's of the stone, from the perfect black smooth polish to the matt grey, play exquisitely with the light and shadows cast on the pieces by the natural surroundings.

Sometimes, Charles says, a certain magic from a more subtle realm seems to inhabit and shape some of his sculptures, and although he says that it is all still a work in progress, this makes it all worth it.