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Universe

The Universe
Westpac Bank, 360 Collins Street,
Melbourne, Austalia
( Height 15ft 5m )


The Universe


HEIGHT 15FT (5M) POLISHED BRONZE 1972


"Man's awareness of Being gives a purpose to the Universe"
I define "awareness" as "Mystic Knowledge"

After I had done several Symbolic Sculptures, I started to see them as a series, so collectively named them The Universe Series.

As fortune would have it, at precisely this moment, I was asked to submit a Symbolic Sculpture to a competition being held in Australia. I called my entry The Universe. I saw the sculpture as the collective parent of all the sculptures I had done so far.

There are three Symbols used in The Universe. The first is the Chinese Pi Disc. I had long admired the beautiful elegance of these jade discs from the Chou Dynasty. The circular disc is the Symbol of Heaven. For me the Heavens are the Universe.

The second Symbol I used was a Stick Figure to represent Man. I placed him in the circle of Heaven. The third Symbol was the Spiral. The Symbol has been used by Man in Sanctuaries from the earliest of times, and for me it is the symbol of Mystic Knowledge, Man's Awareness. On the Stick Figure I placed a Spiral head. The trinity became one symbol, saying, "Man's Awareness of Being gives a purpose to the Universe."

Descartes, the founder of analytic geometry, said, "I think, therefore I am". One hundred years later Jacques Rousseau said, "I feel, therefore I am". Both are refering to Being, but I think Rousseau has defined Awareness.


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Symbolic Sculpture - Website of Sculptor John Robinson

© John Robinson/Edition Limitee 2007
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