Lattice Figures at the Corcoran Showcase

August 21–December 5, 2026
Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, George Washington University
Washington, D.C.

Davide Prete will present three sculptures from Lattice Figures: Reimagining Classical Sculpture in the 2026 Corcoran Faculty & Staff Showcase. The exhibition features creative work and research by the school’s full-time and part-time faculty and staff.

Works on view

Noble Woman
2023
3D-printed ABS on alabaster base
13.8 × 6.3 × 6.3 inches

Hercules
2023
3D-printed ABS on alabaster base
13.8 × 6.3 × 6.3 inches

Roman Bust
2025
3D-printed ABS on alabaster base
6 × 8 × 24 inches

About the series

Lattice Figures: Reimagining Classical Sculpture explores how contemporary computational design can reinterpret the visual language of classical Roman sculpture.

Using 3D scanning, digital sculpting, and advanced lattice modeling, the works replace the solid interiors of traditional sculpture with lightweight cellular structures inspired by natural geometries, including honeycombs, crystal formations, and bone. Openings in the figures echo the fractures and missing fragments of ancient sculptures, transforming damage and absence into a deliberate visual language that reveals the relationship between interior and exterior, structure and surface.

By combining classical aesthetics with digital fabrication, the series considers how emerging technologies can extend sculptural traditions rather than replace them. The resulting works are simultaneously rooted in history and shaped by contemporary engineering and design.

The exhibition’s reflection on abundance resonates closely with Prete’s studio practice: an abundance of unfinished ideas, connections between disciplines, and continuous making. Sketchbooks, digital files, prototypes, failed prints, and partially constructed models are not simply incomplete objects; they are possibilities waiting for the right question. Each completed sculpture emerges from repeated experiments and carries traces of testing, revision, and discovery.

Prete’s work connects fields that do not ordinarily meet—classical sculpture and digital fabrication, architecture and art, engineering and craftsmanship—demonstrating how innovation often begins at the intersection of different forms of knowledge.