Iris Ferrugo

Date
2011

Material
Crystal, Aluminium, Steel, LED

Dimensions
Diameter 150 x D50cm (Diameter 59 x D20in)

Fredrikson Stallard’s Iris collection for Swarovski Crystal Palace 2011 consists of four crystal and steel pieces designed to resemble the iris of a human eye. These are grand structures, with antiquarian aesthetics that resemble imposing utilitarian surgical and photographic lamps. Each has an individual outer ‘skin’ created by the careful use of varied natural metal treatments and patinas, ranging from gold leaf to rust. The crystals are used to depict the iris in a three dimensional painterly way, turbulently twisting, spiraling and radiating, creating highly individualistic intense structures, just as with our own eyes. Together they act as a lens, reflecting, refracting and projecting the light towards the viewer, a key quality and function that both the human eye and Swarovski crystal so beautifully perform. As with much of Fredrikson Stallard’s work, the context is interwoven with combinations of materials in a polar magnetic way, underlining the qualities of each.
”The eye has always been significant since prehistoric times as a representation of gods or of the soul. We have taken the physical qualities of Swarovski crystals and translated these into the psychological realm of how we as humans observe, perceive and reflect our surroundings. In this way they act as a link between ourselves and the objects, which in turn observe us back.”