'We dream what awaits us at the top of the stars. At the bottom however, is a terrifying blend of our most terrifying nightmares'.
The last time I featured the work of skycladarts'Steve Loxley he was climbing tree's in Southern Portugal. (Point & Shoot) In this set of images, Steve's climb is a little closer to home. When I putting together my previous post about Steve' work, I was also drawn to this set which Steve supported me to put aside for a later time.
Steve shares that this was was one of his first real serious attempts at creative nude self portraiture in a different setting other than the usual plain old room shots he had been previously doing. I was particularly drawn to this set for a number of reasons, including my fascination of staircases used in the visual arts.
I love how Steve posed and positioned himself on the stairs. Steve didn't treat the steps as necessarily an obstacle, nor did he treat them as something he needed to get up, or down. Instead, Steve's body interacts with the wooden structure as partner, creating between them a beautiful piece of architecture.
I have written many times before (see a few examples below) of my love of staircases as a metaphor in art. I have never let go of my childhood love our beautiful winding staircase to the top of floor of our home, and my intense fear of the dark wooden stairs that led to our basement. Those memories still fade in from time to time as I head up, but more often those memories come back.... when I'm heading down.
Staircases on FH:
