02: The Backstory

Read the introduction to this series.

Classically, Icarus is shown as a fallen angel, muscled body in freefall. The focus is on his flight, not his face.

But who was he, really? 

The paintings in this series each imagine Icarus as human: at turns hopeful and penitent, ascendant and lost. There’s so much territory to mine, here: it is an ancient story but a modern one, too. So modern. (Maybe too modern.) I think of struggle and tension, of aspiration and hubris and a violent, unforgettable end. 

But it begins with the hopefulness of a boy who is about to soar.

Next:

Jessica Helfand|The Icarus Diaries

03: Born to Fly

I imagine Icarus as a child, dreaming of adventure. A double portrait of a boy and a bird. A moment of stillness, calm before storm.