Pediment Project

Parthenon

Robert Hague

The making of After Athena

Cloth folds represent the speed of Artmeis

Artemis, July 11, 2006

"One of the problems that always had to be faced by the designers of pediments was how to deal with the diminishing height towards the angles... A standard solution for the outermost position was a reclining figure, as on the west pediment." ^

"The artist of the east pediment found a new solution: he dissolved, as it were, the pediment floor in the angles, turning it into a representation of Okeanos (Ocean), the river that was believed to surround the earth, and showed the figures there partially submerged. At the left side Helios (the Sun) is represented as the driver of a four-horse chariot emerging from Okeanos as he did each morning." ^

"The waves of Okeanos are represented on the upper surface of the marble plinths, but would of course have been invisible from the ground." ^

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Helios, July 15, 2006

Demeter and Persephone

Demeter and Persephone, July 28, 2006

(M)OTHER THAT BORE THEE IS WASTED WITH FIRE AND TORN AND THE VOICE OF HER SHORES IS HEARD WILD AS THE VOICE OF A BIRD FOR LOVERS AND CHILDREN BEFORE THEE CRYING AND MOTHERS OUT(WORN) A fragment of an Athenian decree

Randomly orientated letters (complete words), punched, suggesting archaic script and quoting related literature. Incomplete, archaeological and referring to empire (both Athenian and British) and its search for redemption through art.

"How are you blind,
You treaders down of cities, you that cast
Temples to desolation, and lay waste
Tombs, the untrodden sanctuaries where lie
The ancient dead; yourselves so soon to die!" ^^

This will be a major undertaking, to hand-punch approximately 4000 characters, in correct order. It would also be a profound evolution in my work.

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August 10, 2006

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Dionysos, August 25, 2006

Chariot Horses, September 10, 2006

September 4, 2006

Oiled corten (rusted) steel boxes

Rusted plinths and platform, October 8, 2006

Installed Bondi, Southern Headland

November 2, 2006

In late January 2007, work began on the remaining figures of the east pediment. When complete, the final sculpture will double in size to almost 40 foot in length, and
weigh over 2 tonne.

Full maquette - incomplete