SELECTED WORK
GREEK VASES
ILLUSTRATION
A vase with four sides. Each side is a part of a person.
“And how are we to go on living without the barbarians? The barbarians were, after all, a kind of way out…”
C. P. Cavafy, “Waiting for the Barbarians”. The project’s epigraph.
Two of the four sides: transformation and endurance.
Power, close up.
δύναμις · dýnamis
Power
Power is an inner driving energy. It is born in collision with what seems insurmountable.
ἐπιμονή · epimoné
Endurance
Waiting is the ability to be in time. Not to run away, not to hurry, but to stay in the present.
μεταβολή · metabolé
Transformation
Transformation is the possibility of change. The loss of form becomes the beginning of a new state.
σοφία · sophía
Wisdom
Wisdom is navigation in chaos. It lives in the ability to find a way when every path is hidden.
02 / Four sides
03 / But first, let’s revisit
Source: Heracles and the Nemean lion, Greek vase painting.
Heracles and the lion. Heracles strangles the lion. No weapon can hurt it.
On the vase, power comes in five kinds: natural (the lion), cultured (Heracles), memetic (Pikachu), street (Adidas), and collective and hidden (a crowd of rats).
Dionysus and the pirates. Pirates capture Dionysus. He turns them into dolphins.
Source vase: Dionysus and the pirates.
Transformation, close up.
Source: Odysseus escapes the cave of Polyphemus.
Wisdom, close up.
Wisdom, close up.
Penelope is waiting for Odysseus. She weaves by day, unravels by night. Waiting for her husband.
Endurance, close up.
Odysseus and the Cyclops. Tied beneath a sheep, he walks out of captivity.
04 / One surface
Surface studies for the vase form.
Pixel orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. In the reel, the vase stands on them.
All four scenes on one surface, in colour and in greyscale. The Greek names run through the picture: δύναμις, ἐπιμονή, μεταβολή, σοφία.
The whole surface, flat: colour over greyscale.
Reel, 59 seconds.
The four sides, side by side.
Don’t anger the gods!
Technique: 3D modelling and rendering, illustration, animation
Year: 2025
Illustration
2025
GreekVases
A vase with four sides. Each side is a part of a person.
Two of the four sides: transformation and endurance.
“And how are we to go on living without the barbarians? The barbarians were, after all, a kind of way out…”
C. P. Cavafy, “Waiting for the Barbarians”. The project’s epigraph.
Four sides
01
Turn the vase.
The four sides
Swipe →
δύναμις · dýnamis
Power
Power is an inner driving energy. It is born in collision with what seems insurmountable.
ἐπιμονή · epimoné
Endurance
Waiting is the ability to be in time. Not to run away, not to hurry, but to stay in the present.
μεταβολή · metabolé
Transformation
Transformation is the possibility of change. The loss of form becomes the beginning of a new state.
σοφία · sophía
Wisdom
Wisdom is navigation in chaos. It lives in the ability to find a way when every path is hidden.
But first, let’s revisit
02
Four myths, four sides.
Heracles and the lion
δύναμις
Heracles strangles the lion. No weapon can hurt it.
On the vase, power comes in five kinds: natural (the lion), cultured (Heracles), memetic (Pikachu), street (Adidas), and collective and hidden (a crowd of rats).
Source: Heracles and the Nemean lion, Greek vase painting.
Power, close up.
Penelope is waiting
ἐπιμονή
Penelope is waiting for Odysseus. She weaves by day, unravels by night.
Source: Penelope at the loom.
Endurance, close up.
Dionysus and the pirates
μεταβολή
Pirates capture Dionysus. He turns them into dolphins.
Source vase: Dionysus and the pirates.
Transformation, close up.
Odysseus and the Cyclops
σοφία
Tied beneath a sheep, he walks out of captivity.
Source: Odysseus escapes the cave of Polyphemus.
Wisdom, close up.
One surface
03
All four scenes on one surface, in colour and in greyscale. The Greek names run through the picture: δύναμις, ἐπιμονή, μεταβολή, σοφία.
The whole surface, flat: colour over greyscale.
Surface studies for the vase form.
Pixel orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. In the reel, the vase stands on them.
The reel
04
Reel, 59 seconds.
The four sides, side by side
Swipe along →
Don’t angerthe gods!
Technique
3D modelling and rendering, illustration, animation
Year
2025
← Previous work
YHWH Ovine Machine
Next work →
Fairytale Characters
© Liza Benesh