Artists

Davide Prete

Assistant Professor of Art

University of the District of Columbia, College of Art and Sciences

Washington DC, USA

davide@davideprete.com

davideprete.com

View exhibition history

Statement

In my recent work I bring together classical sculpture and mathematical structure. I begin from fragments of Greek and Roman portraits shaped by time and memory. Rather than restoring them, I reinterpret them through generative patterns that grow inside the figure and sometimes replace it. By opening portions of the surface, the interior becomes visible and part of the image. I am interested in the balance between presence and absence, weight and lightness. The figure becomes a porous system that changes with light and viewpoint. Through this process I connect cultural memory with contemporary making, where form is defined as much by space as by matter.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Romans Conversations'

Romans Conversations

50.0 x 30.0 x 15.0 cm

Alabaster, ABS

2025

Additional info

Roman Conversations was inspired by fragmented Roman portraits—forms shaped as much by loss as by presence. Using 3D scanning and digital sculpting, I translated erosion into intention, allowing absence to become structure. Mathematics enters through a TPMS lattice, where minimal surfaces and repeating equations generate both strength and translucency. The sculpture emerges from algorithmic growth rather than carving, turning geometry into skin. Its uniqueness lies in merging archaeological memory with computational fabrication: a classical bust not modeled in solid form, but grown as a porous system where light, void, and topology complete the figure as much as matter does.