Byron Comninos has long been fascinated with the marble of the Cycladic Islands of the Aegean. In this talk he explores the long relationship between artist and Cycladic forms.
When archaeologists uncovered artefacts from the Early Bronze Age settlements in the Greek Cycladic islands of the Aegean, the figurines were regarded as ugly – even grotesque.
Almost a century later in the early 20th Century these became “Cycladic Art” – a term used to this day in Greek museums. Their simplistic forms delight today’s viewer just as they inspired great artists of the last century including Henry Moore, Brancusi, Modigliani and perhaps Picasso.
These figurines made some five millenia ago largely carved out of marble with obsidian “chisels” had a purpose and followed a formula.
Then they were functional. Today they are high Art.
In this lunchtime talk Byron Comninos will discuss his own relationship with working the marble of the Aegean.
Byron Comninos is a sculptor of Greek heritage. He has just completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney University; his second degree but in this one he focussed on history, archaeology, ceramics and sculpture.
He learned to carve marble on the Aegean island of Tinos and frequently travels to Greece and gives presentations on Greek travel, history and culture at the WEA and Academy Travel. He has a particular interest in Cycladic early Bronze Age culture and he visits the island of Syros whenever he is in Greece – an island he has ancestral links with and central to the subject of this talk.
Header image: Cycladic marble female figurine, 2800-2300 BC. NM65.64.
