Jos Letschert

Lives and works in Bad Salzuflen, Germany

Artist statement

Jos Letschert: Sculptor, Painter, Poet The Faces of Myth: Between Timeless Brutality and Human Tenderness Greek myths and classical epics are, at their core, profound mirrors of human interaction. They chronicle how we confront our perceived certainties, fears, virtues, and shifting perspectives. They capture the ways we fight, love, and value one another—how we endure servitude and desperately attempt to escape it. These narratives document humanity's timeless struggle to make sense of the inexplicable, resorting to whatever explanations might offer comfort or order. In this pursuit, however, people frequently fall victim to those who position themselves as self-appointed mediators between the human and the supposed divine. The protagonists of antiquity display character traits that remain inherently recognizable and deeply embedded in our psychology to this day. They embody forces we cannot fully comprehend, forces we fear and attempt to master through personification, or even deification. In my visual work, I reinterpret these archetypes using contemporary materials, giving them form through possible faces. Modern-day Agamemnons still lead us into hopeless wars. Supposed heroes like Achilles do not shrink from femicide. Old men like Nestor continue to preach their sexist dogmas. And countless people still flee from horror, violence, and the catastrophic loss of everything they hold dear, tracing the exact same path of displacement as Aeneas did millennia ago. Yet, the...

Artwork