Ikarus, before 1957

Even though he died at the age of forty, Yerassimos Sklavos left behind a rich and comprehensive body of work, largely based on research and on experimentation with the processing of materials. Until 1959, he was mainly concerned with the depiction of the human figure, first in a realistic and then in an abstract and stylised approach, as the artist had an inclination towards abstraction, and therefore his adoption of abstract forms was only a matter of time. From this period comes “Icarus”, made in plaster before 1957, when he left for Paris on a Greek state scholarship. Whereas other figures of the same period are modelled in serene and balanced poses, “Icarus” masterfully combines in a single perpendicular motion the rise and fall through a blurring of the lines between limbs and wings and the dramatic convolution of the body.