Elton John has revealed what he has called his big angel – a crystal sculpture of a handsome winged hunk, looking serenely to the sky, playing a lyre and wearing a gold wedding band.
The singer held a preview and press conference on his Berkshire estate on Thursday to reveal the results of a collaboration between himself and the luxury crystal and glassmaker Lalique.
The angel and other smaller crystal sculptures will be auctioned in Los Angeles next year during Oscars week to raise money for his Aids Foundation.
“This angel is a messenger of love and peace and harmony,” said John. “We live in a mad world at the moment and we want this piece to be a powerful reminder of the need for us to work together on global challenges, like Aids. If this beautiful angel can help people to think more about peace and love and harmonious living then we have done our job.”
John created the angel after many meetings in hotel rooms, he said, with the creative director of Lalique, Marc Larminaux. “To have a hand in designing it is very rewarding,” he said. “It is absolutely breathtaking.”
The angel, with a likely low estimate of $150,000 (£97,000), will be sold by the online auction house Paddle8, raising money for the charity John set up in 1992.
“I believe music and love are synonymous ... Music is love. Love is what guides us and love is what we need to end this epidemic. Love to end the stigma, love to make a profound difference to end the suffering.”
The big reveal was made at what might be called the art gallery annexe of his estate near Windsor Castle. Once inside, visitors were fed an array of afternoon delights including tea, coffee, macarons and mini jam and cream scones in anticipation of the grand unveiling of John’s angel.
John’s Old Windsor art collection is impressive. Damien Hirst’s The Inescapable Truth – a snow-white dove above a human skull in formaldehyde – is there, as is Grayson Perry’s Angel of the South – a child’s coffin in cast iron. He also has a David Bailey photograph of the Kray Brothers, as well as works by Tracey Emin, William Kentridge, Antony Gormley, the Chapman brothers and Louise Bourgeois.
The collaboration with Lalique was a natural one, John said, given how fond he is of glass. “We must have 4,000-5,000 pieces of glass and crystal scattered across the world,” he said.
