Tablet from Set 7 from the series Les Septs Stations Célestes

2018

Tablet from Set 7 from the series Les Septs Stations Célestes, 2018. Rachid Koraïchi (Algerian, b. 1947). Alabaster; overall: 49.5 x 49.5 x 3.2 cm (19 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 1 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 2020.221.b © Rachid Koraïchi, Courtesy Aicon Gallery Rachid Koraïchi's Les Septs Stations Célestes (The Seven Heavenly Stations) pairs two stone tablets. The right bears text, while the left combines text, drawings, and elements drawn from the artist’s personal lexicon. His unique visual language blends Chinese, Sumerian, Hebrew, and Arabic letterforms with numbers, codes, and drawings. Their calligraphy recalls manuscript pages, while their material evokes Middle Eastern and Swahili Coast tombstones. The right tablet is the beginning of the prose-poem “On Children” by Lebanese-American writer and painter Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931). Each of these digitally carved alabaster tablets weighs about 35 pounds!