krupto: ‘to hide; conceal; keep from view or knowledge; shield or shelter’.
This sculpture is based on the character Calypso, the goddess who rescues Odysseus when he is thrown by a tempest onto her island of Ogygia, and attempts to separate him from the world in the Odyssey. It forms part of the series A Catalogue of Shapes and was constructed from a colander, Primus camping stove, brass washers, pulley, fish hooks, bobbin spool, lamp holder components, warming plate lid, wood (Cypress, Plywood), brass rod, and enamel paint. White Plywood discs were applied to the interior and exterior of the colander’s base. The interior and exterior of the colander were painted with spirals and interlaced bands, surrounding the patterned perforations. With the exception of the feet, the tank of the camping stove was stripped of external features, the resulting holes were filled and the entire body painted. The wood on the podium was waxed, and the frieze painted black. It measures 51.5 x 31 x 20cm.
Kalypso ΚΡΥΠΤΩ from drawing to sculpture
Homer describes Calypso as solitary and isolated from gods and men alike, with beautiful hair and a woman’s (as opposed to a goddess’s) voice. In the Odyssey, Calypso offers Odysseus immortality as her spouse, but at the cost of permanent separation from the world. As an obstacle and diversion she is a threat to the hero’s nostos, yet spurs a supra-human transformation: Odysseus’s rejection of her offer of divine (but dark) immortality returns him to the mortal world of Ithaca, which secures his poetic immortality.
Kalypso ΚΡΥΠΤΩ rear and side views
This sculpture presents Calypso as a fishing-net made of long swirling hair, inspired by images of the Gorgon (specifically depictions such as the Gorgon from the West pediment of the temple of Artemis at Corfu, circa 580 BCE, a polychrome clay relief from Syracuse, circa 600 BCE, and a depiction on the body of the “Nessos” late proto-attic amphora, circa 625-600 BCE. The orange ovoid at the centre of the blue patterned disc is intended to suggest her remote island’s insularity, and the slender legged camping stove, perched on its podium, is based on images of the crouching Sphinx, in particular depictions such as the Archaic period sculpture of the Naxian Sphinx at Delphi, circa 560 BCE.
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