​In his first solo exhibition in a museum setting, internationally acclaimed printmaker Marco Luccio created a series of new and original works inspired by an iconic statue of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love and desire, on display at the Hellenic Museum.

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Luccio’s artistic journey began with a single charcoal sketch, created on-site at the museum before being transformed into a large copper plate using his renowned Drypoint technique. What followed was a metamorphosis of this initial artwork, carrying a single plate through a sequence of bold transformations. Techniques such as mixed media, scraping back, and hand-gouging imbue each piece with a unique character, evolving and reimagining Aphrodite in ways that echo the complexities of human emotion.​

The result was a series of intrinsically connected but ultimately unique and irreplicable etchings, captured at each stage of transformation; a transformation which extends beyond Aphrodite to Luccio himself, as his artistic process evolved, his connection to his subject deepened, and he became not only her creator, but destroyer.

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These themes of creation and destruction became increasingly intertwined as each layer of the copper plate revealed traces of its predecessors, in a process akin to the pentimento technique seen in Renaissance painting. Aphrodite emerged from the depths of the artist’s exploration, at times vibrant with red hues reminiscent of passion, love and lust, and at others in melancholic shades of blue, invoking sorrow and haunting beauty.

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The culminating exhibition showcased Marco Luccio’s printmaking mastery and explored his personal reflections on the profound impacts of love, inviting viewers to engage deeply with themes of fragility, power and the transformative nature of human connection.

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Reverse Archaeology: Metamorphosis of Aphrodite is a past exhibition, displayed in the Hellenic Museum Contemporary Art Space from Friday 16 August – Sunday 27 October 2024.