Sheer Folly / Web Page / COLLECTION SERIES MARBLE SCULPTURE by Martin Cooney / For Sale

Posted on November 16, 2025February 28, 2026 by Martin Cooney, Stone Sculptor

COLLECTION SERIES MARBLE SCULPTURE

Carved by MARTIN COONEY

Sheer Folly / $3,750 / The Liberty Collection / Colorado Yule Marble

13.5 x 12 x 11.5″ / 38 lbs / SN251003

Currently Displayed at The Martin Cooney STONEWORKS

121 Liberty Street, Council Grove, Kansas 66846

Please email martincooneysculptor@gmail.com for purchase information

A marble sculpture titled 'Sheer Folly' by Martin Cooney, featuring bold upright columns and sharp angles, showcasing a unique, angular design with three sides.

Light illuminates Folly’s Gothic windows from within.

14^th carving, ‘Sheer Folly’, entered The Liberty Collection as twin to ‘Sheer Strength’ – the 13^th addition documented in my previous post. I won’t elaborate on the details of their separation from their shared rough block, except to say that it went well. Well enough for the evidence of their splitting, via drill holes and plug and feathers, to be incorporated into ‘Sheer Folly’s’ finished form. Hence the big, bold upright columns that dominate one whole face of his four exterior walls. For unlike his sister, ‘Sheer Strength’, who was all about curves and demureness, ‘Folly’ is all about quite the opposite: rugged dexterity, distinct posturing and imposition upon his surroundings – calling attention to every detail of his gregarious features and uncompromising stance.

Please click on a photo to enlarge.

‘Sheer Strength’……and……’Sheer Folly’.

Pretty Follies….

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For what we have here is a replica, of a replica. That is, a miniature version of the many, many such Follies that litter the landscape of my homeland, England, with a profusion that make them quite impossible to avoid. Not that I ever avoided them – quite the opposite, I found myself drawn to these strange lumbering structures from a very early age, wondering just what they were, who built them and what possible purpose they served. It was only many years later, in young adulthood, that I was to learn they had no purpose whatsoever, or, very little purpose, if at all. Perhaps a wry hunting lodge. A mysterious tower from which to spy on the landscape far below, or just some focal point at the far end of an idyllic meadow to some imperious country manor – the finishing touch, as it were, to some astute Gentleman’s inspired vision for his vast landholding. Who knows? Because the reason for their being, or their purpose, if any, often got lost during the passage of time.

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And so, there they were, gracefully aging … lichen covered, often etched with arcane inscriptions, all but thoroughly abandoned and left to fend for themselves, gracefully aging as the decades and centuries passed them by.

A side view of the marble sculpture 'Sheer Folly' by Martin Cooney, featuring angular features and dramatic lighting that highlights its intricate textures and shapes.

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A marble sculpture titled 'Sheer Folly' with rugged, angular features and a translucent interior, illuminated by light, resting on a black surface against a backdrop of draped fabric.

When is a bowl not a bowl? When its a Folly.

A marble sculpture titled 'Sheer Folly', showcasing angular shapes and a unique, textured surface illuminated from within.

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Many people view these erstwhile proud follies with distain, but not I. I was always thankful for their presence and glad to meet their acquaintance. Each one told a story, and each gave a reason to climb a particular hill, or veer from a pathway, or just wander across a meadow. And in turn, I was nearly always rewarded with a particularly splendid view. Because not only did these unlikely edifices command an imposing mark upon the landscape, but they also inevitably positioned themselves so as to reward visitors with a most impressive view.

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Often these High Victorian structures bore obvious tributes to the squire’s fondly recalled Grand Tour, where the original authentic ruins of Roman aggrandizement lay scattered throughout Southern Europe – the spiritual home of all such romanticists of the time. However, some of these crumbling follies owe allegiance to mystic Celtic origin, with spooky grottos and damp moss covered subterranean caverns – but they are relatively rare. For if there is one singular common denominator to the majority of a true Victorian Folly, it is their yearning for Classic, and indeed, Roman ancestry.

A marble sculpture titled 'Sheer Folly,' featuring angular, bold design elements with defined edges and grooves, illuminated by light, showcasing its intricate craftsmanship.

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And so, it is with my ‘Sheer Folly’ – a Collection Series Marble Sculpture that has no real reason for being. No purpose. And it doesn’t really make much sense, which, cryptically, is the real reason for its creation. For instance, it is a bowl with three sides, and therefore quite useless in that particular capacity. For although ‘Sheer Folly’ is carved with the precision and dimensions associated with my signature Hand Carved Marble Bowls; with just three sides to his architecture, he is unable to claim that title. And although his walls glow whenever direct light is headed his way, he is not specifically flaunting these attributes in the way his sister, ‘Sheer Strength’, brandishes her ethereal translucence. But a more obvious confirmation of ‘Sheer Folly’s extrovert nature within The Collection Series, is the lack of Curvilinear and the imposition of the dreaded Rectilinear. Yes! He actually protrudes sharp, right-angled corners, in direct disregard for Collection Series protocol. He is nothing short of a rebel: an angular, pointy, contrarian folly that … well, actually, serves as the perfect counterfoil to his sister, nay the whole Collection Series mindset.

Which brings me to the matter of separation. These two were carved in succession from the same rough block, as with all the other Collection Series Twins: Guin and Son, Things One and Two, The Cosmic Twins are other combinations.

Splitting ‘Sheer Strength’ from ‘Sheer Folly’ using plug and feather wedges.

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These two pieces, split and carved in succession, could be parted out, but it would be at a great loss to each one of them, and to all norms of common decency! Which is why I named them both with ‘Sheer’ blazoned in the title; so they would sit aside one another forever within the Collection Series’ alphabetized roll call. ‘Sheer Strength’ and ‘Sheer Folly’ are one and the same carving, only in two parts. Both, by-the-way, can look after themselves. Both are about as tough as marble sculpture gets. But both would be devastated if they were ever wrenched apart.

And finally, here’s a quick look at ‘Sheer Folly’s’ rough block on the banker, in the workshop; I don’t have too much time to stop and snap these sorts of in progress pictures, but it should give you some idea of what it is that I actually do in creating my signature COLLECTION SERIES Marble Sculpture.

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