Chronos
Ian Charles Lepine seeks to present beings trapped in a crossroads of contradiction: his interest is to display creatures whose very existence negates their very existence. These are beings at war with themselves, a war where all victories cannot but prove pyrrhic.
His sculptures are frequently accompanied by a poem in either English, French, or Italian, that seeks to give word to the tragedy intrinsic to the form.
Author: Ian Charles Lepine
Year: 2022
Title: Chronos
Technique: Ceramic clay sculpture, painted with oxides and enamel.
According to tradition, the Titan God of Time devoured his offspring as he feared they would challenge his power. In the end through the ruse of Gaea, Zeus was spared and dethroned his father. Thus Time couldn't escape from his own grasp.
This piece reflects the ravages of time on a human visage; Time is running through it and threatening it with extinction, and yet time is the reason it can be said to live. When the sand has left the upper receptacle of the hourglass, the piece is turned on its head and time runs, perhaps backwards, in a fashion reminiscent of the journey of the Sun god through the Duat in Egyptian mythology.
Tempus Fugit
Addio adesso che diventi storia;
Un anno fa che io non sono più
Lo stesso uomo della gioventù
Che porto sempre in me nella memoria.
Così la civilizzazione arcaica
Polvero in vento ed ombra eterna
Ma fino adesso ancora ci governa,
In questa vita assurda e prosaica.
Ma siamo qui, così come un greco
Qui per trovar’ l’immensità;
Nel cielo sempre la divinità
E cosa posso dire io ma ecco?
Siamo tutti storia. La mia voce
Al mondo del passato va veloce.
–9 Luglio MMXXI
Pæstum, Italia