'Sobek'

Egyptians believed they often sighted Sobek near the swamps and on the banks of rivers. Precisely for this reason, he was greatly venerated in the swampy oasis of Fayum, in Lower Egypt. There, his cult had a remarkable development during the entire Middle Kingdom, and numerous rulers brought a name compounded with that of the god.

Sobek was also called “Lord of Bakhu”, the mythological mountain of the horizon, on which there seemed to be a temple dedicated to him entirely made of carnelian, and that’s the element that functioned as the background palette within the composition of this painting, but instead of the mountain, i made pyramids, as the vanishing point of the background itself.

Also, similarly to all the other Egyptian deities, Sobek often appears as a man with the head of a crocodile, as a crocodile on his naos or, again, as a crocodile wrapped in a shroud from which only the head protrudes, so I opted for a neutral representation of the subject, inspired by the statuary one.

The lower part of this painting’s composition is an inverted architectural element; some aisles of an arcade composing Sobek spill element.

This element represents secret passages, idealistic passages that allow the visitor of the sacred waterway to visit the marshy environments without annoying the silent crocodile, ready to devour anyone who disturbs it.

This type of symbolic use of architectural elements is the result, also, of my studies of the metaphysical art of Giorgio DeChirico.

  • Dimensions

    40 x 60 cm - 15.7" x 23.6"

  • Mediums

    Acrylics, House Paint, Sprays, Markers on canvas