Schist Stone
82” x74” x76” (208 × 188 × 193 cm)

Breathing Stones (The Gateless Gate) is a meditation on the natural cycle of creation and decay, and the way in which human and non-human entities relate to time’s passage. Both monument and moment, the work offers itself to the endless cycle of dispersal and return through which the earth—and humankind—are continually remade.

Comprised of two schist boulders which were split and reassembled, the sculpture’s form is simultaneously opened and contained. This paradox recalls the Zen notion of “the gateless gate”: a threshold which bars physical passage, but encourages metaphysical exploration. Despite a stone’s physicality, there is a formless spirit which is embodied within it. In this fleeting world, these stones, too arise from and return to their source. 

Discovered in a ditch overgrown with shrubs, the boulders were divided and relocated to a hilltop where they now rest— enjoying the morning mist, the setting sun, and a view of the Pacific Ocean. Here, they expand and contract with the breath of their surrounding landscape and its diverse weather patterns.

Over millions of years these boulders have weathered, and the act of splitting them has both revealed and relieved their difficult journey through time, and releasing their internal tensions is a means of easing their journey back to the earth. In time, the sharp edges will soften, their bodies dissolve, and the sculpture will return to dust.

This sculpture is permanently installed at Djerassi in Woodside, CA. Sculptures may be viewed via their Art Hikes program.