The Clay Boy
I made this piece after I came across the legend of the Golem a story that had fascinated me ever since visiting the city of Prague where the Golem is said to inhabit. The Clay Boy is a Yiddish and Slavic tale which combines elements of the Golem story from Jewish folklore. In one common Russian version, a lonely older couple whose children have left home, make a boy out of clay and dry him by their hearth. The Clay Boy comes to life; at first the couple are delighted and treat him like a real child, but the Clay Boy does not stop growing, and eats all their food, then all their livestock, and then the Clay Boy eats his parents. The story can also be seen as an analogy of present day inventions that, initially are seen as positive, but can turn into something unmanageable or horrific e.g. the Internet, nuclear weapons.
Mixed media
2 m x 50 cm
