​In his first solo exhibition in a museum setting, internationally acclaimed printmaker Marco Luccio has 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 follows is 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 is 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 evolves, his connection to his subject deepens, and he becomes not only her creator, but destroyer.

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These themes of creation and destruction become increasingly intertwined as each layer of the copper plate reveals traces of its predecessors, in a process akin to the pentimento technique seen in Renaissance painting. Aphrodite emerges 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 showcases Marco Luccio’s printmaking mastery and explores 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 showing in the Hellenic Museum Contemporary Art Space from Friday 16 August – Sunday 27 October 2024, and is included with museum general admission.