Looking through Caesar (veni, vidi, vici)
Gabriel Lester, Looking through Caesar (veni, vidi, vici)
Gabriel Lester, Looking through Caesar (veni, vidi, vici)
Looking through Caesar (veni, vidi, vici)
At a certain point an uncle of mine had created quite an empire of shops and warehouses selling secondhand goods throughout the city of Amsterdam. The warehouses were located on the outskirts of the city, the shops in the centre of town. This empire lasted about as long as fashion waves tend to do — a short decade — after which it became clear that people favored buying new, unused goods.
Being in need of money at the time, I worked in his shops and warehouses for some months. The range of goods that passed through my hands was amazing — my uncle would buy complete interiors of Parisian cafés as well as cargo loads of old and used postcards. It was on a day where I had to transport a shipment of postcards from a warehouse to a shop, that I came across a postcard image of a statue of Julius Caesar. I was struck by the light in the eyes of the gray marble figure and put the postcard in one of my pockets. Only later did I discover that Caesar’s eyes had been painted in gold and that this was what made him look so vibrant and alive.
When I was asked to make a ceramic work for the Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art, I immediately thought of the postcard image that had stuck in my memory. Around about the same time that I thought of the postcard, I visited an exhibition where, amongst other pieces, an early work by Giacometti was on display. What I liked about those early works, was that the shape and form of the sculptures was open and transparent. So looking at those works also meant looking at what was behind the work — the space and the visiting public. I put one and one together and decided to copy a statue of Caesar where it was possible to look through his eyes — giving him a lively appearance (the opened eyes would of course be illuminated by the surrounding light). At the same time the experience of watching the sculpture becomes an experience of seeing what happens behind and/or before it.
Finding the right statue of Caesar to copy proved to be something of a challenge, but the organizers of the Biennale found one I liked in Turin and brought it to Albisola. The next step was to copy it and then for me to come to Albisola to open its eyes and choose the final color of the statue. That is about as far as my practical experience with ceramics has come. I titled my work Looking Through Caesar (veni, vidi, vici) and intend to place it looking out solemnly over the sea.
Gabriel Lester
Looking through Caesar (veni, vidi, vici) by Gabriel Lester was made in Albisola in 2003 during the 2nd Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary Art.
