For me the story of Daedalus reveals very strongly the paradox of vulnerability and strength in human nature and experience. No more so than in Ovid can we find the ongoing theme of chaos embedded in human character; the constant need and expectation to control and create order, reaping the whirlwind of decision in endless chaotic transformation. Daedalus demonstrates the best and worst of behaviour guided by his own intrinsic nature. In Metamorphoses, Ovid depicts him as a character always adapting and creating. He designs the Labyrinth in which to imprison the Minotaur and develops through ingenuity the means of Theseus to escape. When he himself is imprisoned in the Labyrinth with his son Icarus he creates the wings glued with wax for them to escape and warning Icarus (almost as if he is warning himself) not to fly ‘too close to the sun’.
Much of Daedalus’ adventures put him in a survival mode, somewhat nomadic and constantly adapting and courageously using his skills and creations to make sense and cope with the world around him. All of Ovid's stories in Metamorphoses reveal this inevitable chaos met by the creativity of individual thought and action. Contrary to the ordered world of Virgil and the Aeneid, Metamorphoses shows a world in flux, with human ego and vanity mingled in between.
Traditionally, Daedalus is often represented in contrast to his son Icarus as a skilled, matured artist in control and Icarus as the 19th century romantic idea of youthful impulsive energy, like a powerful river without banks. However, I think Icarus can also be seen as an echo of the father's ego, the power to create through thought undermined by the inevitable vulnerabilities of human nature.
In this depiction, Daedalus and Icarus are combined seated, surrounded by the chaotic world they inhabit of characters some identifiable, some fabricated to emphasise mood. The characters are there to create a contrast between the world of Daedalus, his creations and the complex out of control social, political cold environment in which he find himself.
The work is part of a series in which Daedalus is a catalyst to explore the idea of the individual lost in the chaos of systems and protocols. It is the ingenuity, creativity and individuality of Daedalus' character, in all its human fragility working within these cultures that I am exploring here. On close inspection each detail is designed to work metaphorically to allow the viewer to engage with these wider social and political ideas.