Product description
GENESIS, 2023.
Creation of this ring was inspired by the myth of Apollo and Daphne. The ring represents the laurel wreath, symbol of Apollo and his eternal love for Daphne.
The myth of Apollo and Daphne is a story describing what happens when lust faces rejection. It’s a tale about the power of love, the power of Eros (or Cupid in Roman) who can even blind the most powerful amongst the Greek Gods. In the myth, Apollo falls madly in love with Daphne, a nymph sworn to remain a virgin. Apollo hunts Daphne who refuses to accept his advances. Right at the moment he catches her, she prays to her father, the river god who turns her into a laurel tree, a scene famously depicted in Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne sculpture.
Ring of Apollo was exhibited at Galerija Klovićevi dvori, Zagreb in a period 7.-17. 09. 2023, as a part of the fourth unit.
In the fourth unit, Sovilj presents in the form of sculptures and jewelry twelve Olympian gods and goddesses who, with their unique and recognizable attributes, often appear in myths as the most important and powerful divine entities and symbolically personify various aspects of human intimacy and nature (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon , Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and Dionysius).
By combining several styles and his own imaginative interpretations, the author enriches the artistic experience of gods, heroes and other mythological beings, which he incarnates, by emphasizing their universality, symbolic and cultural importance in the contemporary context, in accordance with his artistic vision, creative perspective and the messages he wants to convey, among which should be singled out in particular those related to power and authority, their abuse, injustices in the case of their concentration, the limitation of power, authority and political influence, and the gap between the values depicted in myths and contemporary social values, which are often of a material and consumerist nature. It warns of a destructive relationship with nature and its ecological consequences, as well as the importance of cultural heritage and diversity.
For each deity, the artist created a pedestal in the form of a tholos, a sacred temple in ancient Greece, which emphasizes, on the one hand, the universal sanctity and importance of these deities in terms of the collective experience of people, and, on the other hand, the individual role of ancient aesthetic principles in the development of his visual talent.