2018
Cast Crystal, Glass, Stainless Steel, Oil Paint
62h x 37w x 4d inches
The central motif of Parr Diamonds, evident in the negative spaces of each glass component, is taken from a carved marble façade in the interior of St Mary’s Chapel at Sudeley Castle, England. The architectural embellishment is a small component of the alter area, the chapel being famous for the tomb of Catherine Parr, the 6th and last wife of King Henry VIII. Manousis has replicated the intimate detailing in the chapel’s wall motif, breaking up the design into individual units that look to dilute and fragment as they expand outwards. Faceted and curved glass forms act as lenses to the silhouettes of foliage clusters, rosettes and strands of pearls. Reverse painted to allude to the original carved marble façade, these internal surfaces echo the decay and deterioration that the chapels tomb conceals. Their seeming solidity dissipates around the periphery of installation until only the ghostly, luminescent voids within the glass remain.