Sarah Sze's Split Stone on display in the Crypta Balbi

Simultaneous with Sarah Sze ’s (Boston, 1969) solo exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Rome, which can be visited until January 12, 2019, another work by the artist is on display in the Crypta Balbi: the sculpture"Split Stone (7:34) made in 2018.

This one depicts in pixels the fleetingness of a sunset in a granite boulder, and in the very title of the work the artist declares the precise moment when he took the photo with his iPhone. The granite boulder appears to be split in two like a natural geode: a sunset sky is depicted on each surface, referencing images on some Chinese gongshi stones.
In creating this sculpture, Sarah Sze filled the thousands of tiny cavities etched into the stone with colored pigment.

A kind of dialogue is produced between the images composed of inkblots and bright pixels and the rock fragments and bricks in the remains of the Crypta Balbi; the artist introduces the pathos of archaeological remains into today’s image culture.

The famous Crypta Balbi is one of the venues of the National Roman Museum and is the result of a major excavation of urban archaeology: in the Augustan age, the Balbo Theater (13 B.C.) stood on that site; the Crypta Balbi is therefore the access exedra to the Balbi Theater.

Split Stone (7:34) is on public display until January 27, 2019.

For info: www.museonazionaleromano.beniculturali.it

Hours: Daily from 9 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Tickets: Full 10 euros, reduced 5 euros.

Image: Rendering by Sarah Sze, Split Stone (7:34), 2018 © Gagosian.

Sarah Sze's Split Stone on display in the Crypta Balbi

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