Trapped in a crescendo of physical tension and mechanical awareness, modern human beings have never, as in any other historical moment, made their relationship with time an element of ultimate existential, aesthetic, and emotional definition. A time charged with obsession and fragility, a constant oscillation between the uncertainty of the future and the glory of a now-vanished past. It is exactly here, in this complex becoming, that Sly begins to create, a Belgian sculptor artist who, with unmatched mastery, has managed to elevate high watchmaking into a new form of contemporary sculpture, in an alchemy of inspiration, poetry, and madness that seems to have pulled his creations from the hat of the Mad Hatter. His works appear as sinuous metal evolutions, luminous and intricate, behind which lie vessels, armor, and other incredible silhouettes, each chiseled with singular mastery, poised to come to life at any moment. Jewels, dials, crowns—everything combines in a diabolically harmonious way to give us an additional, even higher meaning, not of time itself but of the forms in which we aspire to crystallize its passage. It is a lasting sense of research and sacrifice, of measured passion that unmistakably defeats the most refined and powerful machine in terms of creativity, craftsmanship, and beauty. Man returns to being a creator, drawing from the world and reinterpreting it through unexplored materials and meanings to give life to a contribution of rare beauty. Sly exalts the sculptural dimension, stopping halfway between celestial welder, perfect technician, and untamed creative force to tell us an idea of meta-time, free from the smallness of the mediocre and from the torments of chaos from which, especially at this exact historical moment, an unexpected breath of courage and challenge seems to arise. Sly’s horological sculptures enchant us, alert us, and call us to reflect on who the creator is today, for what centrality we should fight, and in which memory we should remain: Sly is tangible proof that progress, evolution, and technology will always come second in the creative act, because perhaps the true message behind his sculpture is precisely that—to rediscover that something deeply divine that over time we have found again and that, over time itself, we are slowly losing. www.artworksbysly.com