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The sculpture depicts a figure curled up in a foetal position, with legs stretched out – as if closed in on itself or protecting itself from the world. The head and neck are made of raw, chamotte clay with a cracked surface, reminiscent of earth, a dried crust or the process of erosion – a symbol of the fragility and transience of the body. The rest of the figure contrasts with the naturalness of the clay: the body is covered with dark, shiny glaze, decorated with large, relief letters. The recurring motif of signs gives the work an abstract, almost technological character – as if man had been encoded in a system of signs or entangled in patterns that limit him. The position of the figure – with its head bowed towards its hands and legs raised – evokes associations with imprisonment and internal tension. The contrast between the austerity of the head and the shine of the rest of the body reinforces the dramatic dimension of the sculpture, emphasising the opposition between nature and culture, matter and technology, authenticity and artificiality. The work can be read as a metaphor for the condition of modern man – fragile and yet enslaved by his own creations.
