TEMPUS FUGIT
1990
SIOBAN COPPINGER and FIONA & ALEC PEEVER
TEMPUS FUGIT embodies the mysteries of time, nature, and the British Rail Timetable.
Created in the form of a working sundial, it makes reference to our need to order and contain time. The work explores how the environment and the elements - like our perception of time - constantly change and move.
The figure of a RAILMAN holds a large ring-bound timetable. Designed during the storms of 1989, he is blown by a fierce wind while his clothes billow around him. The stone 'leaves' of the book are lifted and carried away. As he reaches to catch a page, it becomes the gnomon of the sundial whose shadow indicates the time. Around the RAILMAN some pages have fallen, creating an arc which marks the hours.
The RAILMAN is cast in bronze with leaves growing up around him, perhaps being blown against him, or actually growing from him. All the leaves on the ground and those from the book are carved from limestone. The inscriptions are 'writ in stone', with other detailing which make humorous connections between the environment; the passage of trains; and of time.
As the pages tumble down the garden a transformation is taking place, and time although captured on the pages, is escaping. It seems too that the further the wind blows the pages, the more the elements succeed in reclaiming what was originally theirs.
A profound balance flows through TEMPUS FUGIT, it is a genuine collaboration of these three sculptors. The marriage of the materials achieved, the piece defied the technical hurdles. Alec's particular expertise with sundials, ensures that it works just as perfectly in Somerset, as the northern climes of Newcastle.
At Templecombe, TEMPUS FUGIT continues to reinforce it's concept. The trains are not particularly frequent at this 'reclaimed' station, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the many elements, on many levels.
- Category:
- Flora
This piece was commissioned.
Location: Outdoor
Size: Large
This piece can be viewed by the public.
Dimensions: LIFESIZE
Medium: Stone & Bronze
Edition size: UNIQUE
Collection: British Rail Partnerships. Templecombe, in Somerset.
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