Prometheus
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: Prometheus
Technique: Ceramic clay sculpture, painted with oxides and enamel.
The Titan father of technology, in many ways of the arts, Prometheus is a tragic figure of sacrifice. Punished for giving men fire, he was exposed to the tortures of eternity: every day two eagles would devour his liver,
Fire is incorporated as a material for the sculpture. The flame thus becomes a fixed ever-varied form that changes the form of the titan. As the candle arm melts drops of wax fall on the figure, disfiguring it and contributing to his torment.
In this piece I sought to coalesce the moment of rebellion and the punishment. To our Dante-informed imagination it is perhaps strange that Prometheus punishment is in no way related to his transgression: this piece seeks to remedy that. Thus the very gift he have man is used to scald the Titan; but this is indeed an incarnation of his very act of sacrifice: to hand fire over to man, he had to hurt himself by bearing its burning flame.
Prometheus
To bring forth fire one must burn oneself;
To light the path of man one needs to die;
All triumph posits sacrifice, the sky
Is held aloft by Atlas in his strife.
But it was you, Prometheus, titan great,
Who lit aflame of men the very heart;
Our burning souls are pouring forth in art,
While you of Jove receive the burning hate.
We shan’t forget your daring sacrifice,
To give us light you lit yourself in pain;
Oh, do not ever think it was in vain;
You for our daylight paid of night the price.
And though the fire may consume it all
I’ll kiss the flames now burning in my soul.
–15 August MMXXII