Yiannis Melanitis

Condensed Christ (after Andrea Mantegna/ The Lamentation over the Dead Christ)

 

The transformation from one artform to another may distort the concept which the artwork represents.

By changing the perspective dimensions of painting , as we enter to sculpture, the two-point perspective has cut off a part of the painting.

The space lost may be repented in sculpture, if we consider it logical to represent it based on the surrounding space.
However, this is a compromise- the "lost space" may take up a few centimetres or several miles; To be exact, it takes up a space that reaches our viewing point.

The artist chooses if he will represent that space at his sculptural synthesis. At the work Condensed Christ, this space has been omitted and the sculpture can be viewed from a single viewing point so the illusion cannot be detected; This viewing point is exactly the same with the viewing point of Andrea Mantegna˘s painting.

 

Condensed Christ (after Andrea Mantegna/ The Lamentation over the Dead Christ)
clay on wooden base [base dimensions 45 x 60 x 15,9, clay dimensions 40,4 x 40 x 12,9], 2008

 

Side view and top view of the clay sculpture