WORK OF THE WEEK: Gary Breeze, Too marvellous for words, 2004

Gary Breeze
Too marvellous for words, 2004
Limestone
36 x 45 x 6 cm
1ft 2 ⅛ x 1ft 5 ¾ x 2 ⅜ in.

£ 4,000 + VAT

Amoris ergo / cantum ab al/ite aufero:
mi/randam te, te / maxime
mirab/ilem approbo.

So I take from the bird a song of love:
I praise you as wonderful,
as marvellous in the highest degree.

‘And so I’m borrowing a love song from the birds
To tell you that you’re marvellous
Too marvellous for words.’

Located in The Cube at Roche Court, Too marvellous for words, demonstrates Gary Breeze’s ability to combine traditional carving skills with experimental and contemporary themes like permanence, poetry and language.

Following his training at the Norwich School of Art, Gary Breeze established his workshop in Norfolk to specialise in letter cutting. Since its opening, Breeze has received commissions for prestigious memorials including The Soviet War memorial at The Imperial War Museum and the memorial to the victims of the Bali Bombings at Clive Steps, St James' Park.

Many of Breeze’s works use Norfolk dialect as a means of preserving language. Norfolk Ornithology 2004 lists different species of Norfolk’s native birds along with their local names carved into reclaimed slate. However, ‘Too Marvelous for Words’ uses Latin and the lyrics from the song 'Too Marvellous For Words' written by Johnny Mercer.

We are pleased to present our new Roche Artist Plate, designed by Gary Breeze.

FROM THE EGG TO THE APPLES

"The quote is from Horace ... and I liked the reference to a meal (suitable for a plate) but thought it was quite funny that Horace was referring to how boring meals can be with the wrong company" - Gary Breeze

The Satires by Horace, Book 1 Satire 3

'All singers have the same fault, nothing will make them
Offer to sing for their friends when they’re asked,
Yet unasked they never stop. Sardinian Tigellius
Was like that. Even if Caesar, with all his power,
Had begged him to sing out of friendship to him
And his father, he’d have got nowhere: yet if he chose
He’d cry: ‘Hail Bacchus!’ at meals, from the egg to the apples,
Now in a bass, now tenor, from tip to toe of the lyre.'

£ 35