Thursday, December 29, 2016

Art show #4 - old school

Art is usually meant to be shared. What would be the point of creating something then hiding it away? These pieces feel like a secret note. Long hours laboring over them to perfect them, then shown to only one person for less then 30 seconds, then tucking them away to never be seen/used again.

In college I took world lit. Among the books we read were the Iliad and the Odyssey and Dante's Inferno.

Part of a final report/project I made these.

 (lovin' my 3D brick effect there!)

From the Iliad.  Having done extensive research on the Trojan war I loved making these.

So much fun depicting the myths that came from reality.

 Poseidon was the god of the sea, also known as the earth shaker and the tamer of horses. Depicted here as the cause of the fall of the Trojan wall. Note my cleaver use of the caps on the horses hooves with gold waves.

One theory as to why the "Trojan horse" became immortalized is  because Troy is located in a HIGHLY earthquake area of Turkey. Adding all Poseidon's job skills together nets you this image.
An earth quake, tributed to Poseidon knock a hole in the wall and the rest is history.



 There are many theory's on the wall breach. In reality it is thought that as the morning dawned and the gates opened to take the animals out grazing, a archer shot one of the horses in the doorway, thus creating an obstacle so the doors couldn't be closed. The invading army simply rushed the opening and wiped out the city.

 Horses, both real and imagined did play a vital part in this war. It is said that one king promised the other some of his finest stallions in payment. Then tried to pass off grade horses to him, angering him.
All the images and truths and myths combined to create a fantastic version by Homer. My mother was a student of Greek and Roman history. I can recall her reading us the Iliad and the Odyssey and other great works of literature. I can hear the faint under current of Homer's writing rhythm in my own style. Like a child dancing in the masters footsteps. Sloppy and uncoordinated but with unbridled passion. 

These are from a series done from Dante Alighieri's Inferno. Again lots of time invested. Shown to a teacher for a few seconds then filed away. I had a lot of fun deciding which canto's of hell I wanted to draw.


All of Dante's wonderful descriptions screamed to be illustrated. I had read some of it in high school, but in college the teacher covered it so clearly and with references as to WHO the sinners were at the time that it made so much more sense. In 500 years from now you reference OJ Simpson in your story no one will make the connection. The same issue slows the reading of the Inferno, because he uses real people from his time that we don't know.

Weeding through all that reveals a stunning work of art. I am captivated by Dante's command of the language.

Sweet Cerberus.

Then in my class on India, I made several of these for my final project.

I thought it would be easy to copy they style of drawing. Wow was I wrong! That was harder to do then I anticipated! Was a fun challenge.

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