Prometheus

The legend of Prometheus, the benevolent titan, tells how he stole the sacred fire from Olympus to offer civilization, knowledge and warmth to people, defying Zeus. As punishment for his betrayal and love for mortals, Zeus chained him to a mountain, where an eagle devoured his liver, which regenerated daily, and was later rescued by Hercules. The work capitalizes on a natural form of walnut wood, marked by a cavern born around a dry branch. Over time, the tree regenerated its tissue around this wound – an organic process that here becomes a metaphor for the myth of Prometheus, whose liver was constantly regenerating. The sculptural intervention dialogues with the pre-existing form, without dominating it. The cavity becomes a sign of suffering, but also of vital force. The flaming ember, carried in the stalk of the great fennel, evokes the fire given to humans, and the body fixed to the rock suggests the tension between sacrifice and creation. The sculpture has an authentic force – one feels that the form is not imposed on the wood, but discovered within it. “Prometheus” is a reflection on regeneration, resistance and the condition of the creator: burning, punishment and light.