Lord of the Flies
Materials: Wooden Box, Plaster figurine souvenir, dead flies.
Size: 44x24x120
When I saw the famous ‘Piëta’ of Michelangelo in Rome I was struck by the big contrast of the smooth plastered artwork and its horrible meaning: Jesus’ broken body after the Crucifixion.
I decided to buy one figurine of the hundreds lying on the funny, party-like market stands.
Then I collected dead flies: dead or alive they look the same.
Yet we all feel that flies on any item represent rotting decay, like the Hell where Jesus went.
The pedestal is shaped like a coffin.
The title I borrowed from the writer William Golding, who uses this Old Testament name for the devil
But in my opinion Jesus by His death also became the Lord of the flies…
2008