20 December 04
Prometheus Again
I once tried to paint in oils and egg tempera a painting of Prometheus. My titan was gaunt and almost skeletal, quite unlike some of the renderings I’ve seen of him as a buff gay icon. He faced the viewer in horror as his back was turned to the approaching liver-snatching eagle, which I modelled on the steppe eagle rather than golden. I’d gotten through about three or four glazes before I decided to give up—the drawing was wrong, especially of the man.
The reason I’m thinking about Prometheus again is because of the liver connection. Today I chanced upon a contemporary artist, Elsie Russell, who has clearly put some time into this subject.
I’m always enchanted when I find artists working today who have a) some grasp of drawing and anatomy and b) an interest in their historical artistic and cultural heritage, along with the talent to explore these in a new way. It’s possible in some cases to write this off as postmodern trendiness, though why that’s worse than modernist trendiness I’m not sure. (Notice that a lot of the artists who rail against drawing well, calling it “illustration,” are the ones who can’t draw for beans, like David Hockney.)
Classical myths endure because they tell us something fundamental about the human condition. I suppose I’m entering a phase where I’m willing to try and work out what this particular one might be for me. Regeneration? Endurance? Being punished for doing the right thing or for knowledge? In this dark time of the year in the northern hemisphere, images of light are particularly appealing to me. In this dark time we are entering for the world, how much more appealing they become. How much more worth the defiance of authority, even when those who benefit from the great act are unworthy or worse, ignorant.
Liver. Live. Love. Fegato. Fe. Foie. Foi. Higado. Hidalgo.
Live.
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I’d love to hear more about the meaning you find in Prometheus. I’d love to hear what others felt. (It would be wonderful, don’t you think, to have a retelling and personal reinterpretation of some of these ancient stories! Ai. So much to think about, so little time . . .)
But I still like them.
Internet makes it a mysterious thing that I can read your wonderful words far away from you here in China and 1 year later—different time and different space!
So weather you understand or not,I just appreciate the glorious world.
What do you think about Atlas,the brother of Prometheus who has a similar fate.And while the fate challenge us,what man like them can do and should do.
I am currently doing a project on Prometheus, and I think this piece really captures the essence of his sacrifice. Myths have always interested me, and for this project, I have chosen to do a collage. Prometheus is a benefactor of mankind and I think this painting reflects his endurance. Well done, Mike.