Stephen Ralph, The Other Woman, 2024, Chillagoe Bianca Mist marble, 62.00 x 52.00 x 31.00 cm, TCG23666
(photo: The Commercial)

artist statement

The Other Woman is a work made up of four marble heads, each head a copy taken from a different plaster carving. Earlier this year, I conducted a trial sculpture class with the aim to copy from observation. We worked from an old plaster cast taken from a copy of a Roman marble statue of Venus, which in turn, is a copy of an ancient Greek bronze statue of Aphrodite.

Weeks later, the heads were randomly piled up in the backyard of my studio and an artist-friend suggested I could carve the whole composition in marble. At first, the idea made me laugh, but then, three days late, I found myself carving the first head.

As an artist, I often don't know why I am inspired to make something. Yet, recognising the continuity of artmaking, from ancient times to now, gives me a sense of comfort and stamina to stay the path. The Other Woman is a work tracing this thinking, the past, and the present.