Fragmentary Excess: Body, Text, Receptacle

Two-Dimensional Bodies

The Greek ceramic sherds grouped here represent only a fragment of the types and styles of decoration of Archaic and Classical Greek Red- and Black-Figure pottery. Pieces of the bodies and handles of kraters (mixing bowls), amphorae (storage vessels), and kylixes (drinking cups), each of these sherds also includes partial depictions of bodies. These two-dimensional bodies are intimately connected with the actions of real, human bodies. 







The vessels themselves were created by the hands of men, their bodies then painted flat on the three-dimensional objects; and only when the vessels were in use were these painted bodies activated and in motion themselves. Further, the dismemberment of the two-dimensional bodies was likely the fault of the human bodies and their actions. In their current fragmentary nature, it is only through imagination that their full bodies and environments can be envisioned. 



 

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