THE MARBLE FAUN
Life starts with a woman.
The Marble Faun by Stephanie Lucchese is a striking vision of transformation, where a female figure exists in a state of flux between human and something beyond – perhaps wisdom, perhaps spirit. Life begins with a female form, yet she is not static; she is in motion, evolving from flesh into something ephemeral, something luminous.
As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
The dominant hues of green and purple suggest an interplay between transformation and transcendence. Green, the color of growth and change, represents an intermediary state – an alchemical process in which the self undergoes a profound shift. Purple, mingled with white, evokes wisdom and spiritual elevation, suggesting that this transition is not merely physical but deeply metaphysical.
At the heart of the composition is the confluence of bird and human: one arm is flesh, the other is talon. One part swan, one part person. This merging of forms signifies an essential duality – the struggle between instinct and intellect, between corporeal existence and spiritual ascension. The bird, long associated with the soul in numerous cultural and religious traditions, symbolizes the eternal. To transition from one state to another is to return to one's essence, to embrace the soul’s journey beyond the constraints of the body.
There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.
Mark Twain
In the foreground, two green fruits hang in delicate balance, echoing the theme of transformation. They suggest duality – perhaps opposing choices, the tension between light and darkness, wisdom and innocence. To taste them is to gain knowledge, but knowledge, as mythology reminds us, often comes with the weight of mortality. This recalls the fruit of a forbidden tree – the apple of Eden, where the consumption of wisdom led to both enlightenment and exile.
One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
C.G. Jung
A tree grows within this vision, its stem reaching simultaneously toward the earth and the heavens. This dual existence mirrors the painting’s central tension: roots burrow into darkness, into the subconscious, while branches extend toward the sun, light and revelation.
There is something primordial, even mythical, in the figure’s posture and composition. She evokes the dark angel, the daemon, the untamed force of passion and desire. There is an echo of the faun, the Roman embodiment of lust and primal energy, with its animalistic features that disrupt the purity of the human form. This is an image of transition, of liminality, of metamorphosis, and the unfolding mystery of becoming. In this ambiguous in-between state, the questions are uttered: what does it mean to be human? Where does the body end and the soul begin? What is gained in transformation, and what is lost?
Stephanie Lucchese
The Marble Faun
2024
Oil on linen
152.4 x 114.3 cm (60 x 45 in)
Everything you can imagine is real.
Pablo Picasso
Stephanie Lucchese creates a world of fiction and personal mythology, a peek into an imagined universe. In her art, forms, fruits, plants, and figures are caught in a constant state of motion, as if they are consuming themselves. Although the elements of her paintings appear invitingly edible, there is an underlying sense that something is amiss, while the painted nature adheres to its own peculiar laws, forming a realm that is both convincingly real and intriguingly eerie, shaped by a continuous flow of sensory experiences.
