Galaxy, Jan Axel Starup
27 large field stones, 7,000 cobblestones and 1000 beach stones - that’s how may stones that make up Jan Axel Starup’s large art installation.
Galaxy
- Artist: Jan Axel Starup
- Erected: 1985
The Centre of Tranekær
27 large field stones, 7,000 cobblestones and 1000 beach stones - that’s how may stones that make up Jan Axel Starup’s large art installation. It took Starup 6 months to put all the stones into place. His intention was to create a whole galaxy centred on Tranekær.
The work unfolds itself in a spiral and contains many symbols that reference both the past and the present. These include a crane (representing Tranekær Local Council - Langeland was once divided into 3 municipal districts: Rudkøbing, South Langeland and Tranekær), a runic inscription, an ash-leaf, and in the centre of the spiral, a bowl-shaped stone that can be interpreted as an eye looking out at the universe.
The whole installation covers an area of 12 by 15 meters.
Jan Axel Starup
Jan Axel Starup was born in Kastrup in 1932 and since 1969 have lived in Tranekær on Langeland. He trained at the Academy for Free and Commercial Art in Copenhagen.
He works in many different fields ranging from drawing, graphics and painting to ceramics, stoneware reliefs, illustrations, poems, video art and sculpture installations.
See Also….
Tickon - Tranekær International Centre for Art and Nature, which you can find in Tranekær Castle Park on the other side of the road from ‘Galaxy’.