Lithoviso: The soul of stones
From rock to art - meditative journeys in space and time
Impressions from various sites in Rheinhessen and Hunsrück
Going on a rock-hunting excursion in Rheinhessen and Hunsrück is a sensual journey into the beautiful landscape. At the same time it is a time-travel to long bygone geological eras. Imagining the past and connecting it to today's landscape is the key to identifying the right places and find the hidden treasures of Rheinhessen and Hunsrück.
At the end of an excursion, the finds are washed and examined. Amidst the finds those few special pieces are chosen, which thanks to their colours and structures seem suited for transforming them into art. Their suitability can rarely determined at the first glance. Therefore intuition plays an important role. One has to get a feeling for the stone and try to "read" and understand its properties and singularities.
The rocks then are cut and polished by a professional gem cutter.
Now it is time to get the magnifying glass out and dive into the interior world of the stones – an exciting journey of discovery requiring a high level of mindfulness.
Then follows a second selection process for the rocks. The chosen pieces are now digitally recorded to capture even the finest details.
Once this is achieved, the final step begins: Intensifying the colours and gently capturing and working their forms and structures is a meditative process which usually takes hours, days and sometimes even weeks. In this time I encounter the unique forms, symbols which I capture in the pictures. They show the cosmic and creative forces manifested in the rocks and invite the viewer to behold and wonder.
