Sculptor, art professor Laila Pullinen’s sculpture Icarus refers to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus. The Athenian inventor Daedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus so that they could escape from their imprisonment on Crete. Despite his father’s warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea when the heat melted the wax holding his wings together.

In addition to the themes of striving towards the heights and the subsequent fall, Pullinen’s work can also be considered from the perspective of its material. In this granite sculpture by one of Finland’s foremost sculptors, lightness meets weight, while a glossy, smooth surface contrasts with a rough, feather-like grooved texture.