LUCANUS CERVUS

In Zoe Theodorou’s artwork “Lucanus Cervus”, the concept of metaphor dominates both in its essential meaning and on a level of a conceptual metaphor. With clay as the basic material, she integrates a new type of worker – transporter, that of Lucanus Cervus or Elafrokantharos, into the context of the mine shafts. With porcelain glaze and rocks from Avessalos Turn and Beach, Gyftika and Great Livadi – Wagons, this rare insect alludes to a living “container of transportation” of minerals and metals. The dark brownish red color and the hard exoskeleton of this particular insect-worker, combined with its metallic claws, is a direct reference to both the hard and rigid outer shell of the lithosphere, and to the figure of the man worker-transporter. The transport of minerals took place from sunrise to sunset, as the men – workers – transporters descended into the depths of the earth to collect and transport the ores in the state of humidity and darkness, just as the insect – transporter moves to carry its own cargo daily. The insect-human conceptual dipole is dominant to emphasize both the harsh and unsustainable conditions and the atmosphere of a harsh and dark environment. A choice that outlines the reality but also emphasizes the beauty of the result through the minerals that accompany the artwork.          

Text revised by Angeliki Kerpitsopoulou.

Technical description
ARTIST
ELENI MANDRAVELI

Zoe Theodorou