? Estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay
Beware of the Lark
1974
- Scottish Art
This is one of several inscribed boulders by Finlay (he called them `wild stones?), and like much of his work it stands on the borderline between art and nature. Designed to sit on the ground in a garden like any normal stone, it therefore surprises the viewer with its inscribed message. It is one of several `notices? made by the artist which have surreally humorous messages. The stone is dedicated to the French poet Rene Char (1907-88), whose work Finlay admired for conveying a sense of `a kind of frenzy in Nature, and a sense of danger.? The inscription suggests similar values - Finlay explained: `I mean to suggest the way that larks rise from a hillside, with the suddenness of disturbed dogs...and this relates to a sense of joy and danger which recurs in Char?s poetry?.
