In Untitled (2008), British-Israeli artist Daniel Silver harnesses classical methods to create a hybrid sculptural form. Working in Carrara, Italy – the source of marble for such masterpieces as Michelangelo’s David – Silver modelled the head from a discarded sculpture. Modifying the previous form with his own carving, the work alternates between smooth finish and compelling imperfection. Silver’s interest in mythology and the cycles of history provides the impetus for such encounters, exploring how we model ourselves on the past – just as the Roman Empire modelled itself on Ancient Greece. Today, artisans in the quarries and workshops of Carrara continue to carve marble sculptures based on classical works. ‘How we live and perceive the world,’ says Silver, ‘isn’t so different from 1000 years ago.’ Included in the Saatchi Gallery’s 2009 exhibition Newspeak: British Art Now at St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum – where the present work was shown – he was later acclaimed for his 2013 Artangel installation Dig. He has since exhibited at institutions including the Hepworth Wakefield, the Whitechapel Gallery and the Freud Museum, London, and mounted a solo exhibition at the New Art Gallery, Walsall, last year.