Eros in Ruin

Eros in Ruin is a collection of projects - watercolors, drawings, photographs, sculptures - instigated by research of the antiquities of ancient Greece. A visual travel journal of sacred sites, the works emphasize the disturbing mix of grandeur and decay that marks Athens, Delphi, and Delos, and toys with pre-Christian images of heroism and the male ideal. The paintings are presented adjacent to Wax and Skin and statues from Reliquary, both introducing intimacy into otherwise stoic sculptural forms.

ELEMENTS FROM "ZEUS IN RUIN," SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHY, 12 X 9 IN EACH ELEMENT      CLICK TO ENLARGE — ELEMENTS FROM "ZEUS IN RUIN," SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHY, 12 X 9 IN EACH ELEMENT CLICK TO ENLARGE

ELEMENTS FROM "ZEUS IN RUIN," WATERCOLOR, 12 X 9 IN EACH ELEMENT      CLICK TO ENLARGE — ELEMENTS FROM "ZEUS IN RUIN," WATERCOLOR, 12 X 9 IN EACH ELEMENT CLICK TO ENLARGE

Sarx/Thanatos is an installation of travel drawings and inset photographs, organized around a “legend” that features the greek words eros (desire), thanatos (death drive), sarx (body), and logos (word/law). These conceptswere central to Sigmund Freud’s evolving conjectures about personality, and are guiding themes for Attyah’s artwork. Map pins index drawings and locations against these four poles, graphing the interaction of ideas, libido, flesh, and decay.

ELEMENTS FROM SARX/THANATOS," DRAWING, COLLAGE, 5 X 7 EACH ELEMENT    CLICK TO ENLARGE — ELEMENTS FROM SARX/THANATOS," DRAWING, COLLAGE, 5 X 7 EACH ELEMENT CLICK TO ENLARGE

Zeus in Ruin is an installation of gesture drawings which rely on unplanned, automatic drawing. The central image is kinetic energy springing from the forehead of various figures, referring (in contradiction) both to Zeus’s violent bearing of Athena and to tranquil light emanating from the seventh chakra.