From the godly Winged Victory of Samothrace in Le Louvre, to Michelangelo’s giant David at Galleria dell’Accademia and Rodin’s smooth embrace, The Kiss—artists across history seem to have enjoyed freezing our likeness and our stories, great battles, loves and lives in glossy stone. The classic and ancient masterpieces pitched heroes and biblical characters as towering, stone-faced gods—a lasting testament to humanity’s perishable, earthly legend. Now though, a new set of artists are creating marble portraits and classical spinoffs that show off the human form, but also our fragmented, flawed nature—and the complicated, cracked, and crooked world we live in. Here are just a few of our favourites.
Portrait of Julian by Alejandro Maestre // Spanish photographer Alejandro Maestre has worked with the likes of Burberry and Audi, and is interested in fleshing out the boundaries of digital post-production magic. His latest personal project is EL HOMBRE QUE SE CREA—a striking portrait series of artist Julián Cánovas-Yañez. Julian is a multidisciplinary artist and basically the modern iteration of the renaissance man.
Emerging Figures by Graziano Locatelli // Italian sculptor Graziano Locatelli’s humans burst forth from cracked subway tiles, being born into a new reality or breaking free from an imprisoned state. It’s a reinterpretation of the classic flat plane, bass-relief style sculpture, showing humanity amongst disruption and wreckag
