"Lilith's Flight" by Candice Raquel Lee

Lilith's Flight: (edition of 8), bronze
Size (in): 26H x 18D x 10"W on a black granite cube base; weight: 75 lbs. $5000 CAD including freight

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The Sculpture: My sculpted rendition of the Lilith myth captures the precise moment when Adam's first wife, with hands raised in prayer, lifts her face, utters the name of God and begins to rise to the heavens. Adam, oblivious with desire, embraces her tightly and seeks to hold her down even as her body urges upward. Wind riffles Lilith's hair; her toes lift. This tense moment of competing movement and purpose is what I have sought to convey in the work.

For the ancient rabbis, Lilith was evil for her defiance. Contemporary feminist readings emphasize Adam's domineering nature. In reality, both parties are guilty of a complete refusal to compromise. Thus, their situation is a caution against selfishness for any couple desirous of a lasting relationship. Lilith and Adam are mirror images both physically and mentally; with their eyes closed, both are so absorbed in their own agendas that no communication passes between them.

This negative equilibrium is represented, however, as a thing of beauty in Lilith's Flight: the posture of the figures creates symmetry from front and back and a wonderful triangular geometry from all sides, which one can observe in the various views of the sculpture. Lilith herself is a brilliant gold, as if she is transforming into ethereal light, while Adam remains an earthier stippled brown.

The Story: According to ancient Hebrew myth, Lilith was Adam's first wife. Adam and Lilith never achieved marital peace together, for when he wished to lie with her, she took offence at the passive sexual position he demanded. "Why must I lie beneath you?" she asked. "I was made from earth just like you and am therefore your equal." Because Adam tried to compel her to obey by force, Lilith uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him forever.

(paraphrased from Robert Graves, Hebrew Myths)

E-mail: candice@candiceraquel.com | Phone: 519.853.9037