Stunning

There is, thank God, the garden variety of wonder that gives life to the moment in which it's encountered, a spark blown from outside the complacency of mere existence. But there's another, rarer variety that does not merely touch--it transfixes. Something that hits with an elemental power, and makes one realize the accuracy of the cliche "it takes your breath away."

This guitar, built by Kevin Ryan, and inlaid by Larry Robinson struck me as something in the latter category, even seen from a remove, in pictures. The monumental artistry of the Lindisfarne Gospels is surely a standard worthy of imitation. . .but it's not imitated here. It's brought blazing into life. Every aspect, from a wood pale enough to stand in for vellum, to copper-wire stippling warming the empty spaces, seems to have been planned and executed in the same degree of care as in the original, if in a very different medium. Words have so far failed me as reach for something to describe the colours, and the impact of seeing them delivered in shell and sumptuous shades of wood, all cut to fit layered, precise knotwork. Luminous is about as close as I can get.

There's a short interview here with the artists, as well as some further pictures--not the least of which is part of the inlay before it was set, looking rather surreal, as if a strong wind had come and scattered it off the manuscript.

EDIT: The first link is now defunct. There are some other pictures of the guitar in the slide show that heads this article.