Description
Birth of a Guin
Item: SN140301
Price: $10,000
Material: Colorado Yule Marble
Measurements: 9 x 22 x 25 inches
Weight: 61 lbs
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Birth of a Guin emerged from the second half of an L-shaped quoin—the companion to the earlier work Finger Bowl. With intimate knowledge of the marble’s strengths and limitations, Martin Cooney approached this piece with ambitious structural goals: a long, tapered neck delicately balanced atop two internal support columns, culminating in a bold, weighty “head.”
But what is a Guin? It’s an invented, birdlike figure—created not to mimic any one species, but to symbolically represent all animals. The absence of detailed facial features leaves space for interpretation, allowing the sculpture’s posture and proportions to tell a more universal, emotionally resonant story.
Conceptually rich and abstract in form, Birth of a Guin delves into themes of life, fragility, strength, and the delicate balance between predator and prey. It stands as one of the most intellectually layered works to come from Cooney’s Woody Creek period—quietly powerful and profoundly open to reflection.
https://martincooney.com/2014/08/04/birth-of-a-guin-home-page/
