'Myths & Mysteries': Portfolio and Exhibition Pt. 7

Main Artwork

This post is to feature the three main pieces I produced for the project: Cerberus as Gluttony, Typhon & Echidna Coupling and 21st Century Baphomet. I am also featuring additional artwork produced for the portfolio and the descriptions I provided with them for the exhibition.

Cerberus as Gluttony (2011)

This piece is inspired by Cerberus as described by Dante Alighieri in his poem 'The Divine Comedy I: Inferno'. In the poem, Cerberus has the role in Hell as the punisher of the Gluttunous, forever rending their gorged bodies. Dante employed the monster as the embodiment and perversion of the sinners' own unbridled appetite. My original design was to make it more anatomical and less "like a roast chicken" compared to the actual finished piece but this was developed to the point of serving as an even stronger depiction of Cerberus as the embodiment of gluttony. Although I had intended Cerberus to be genderless, the pastel drawing features a limp phallus. This was not incorporated to suggest Cerberus has definately male but to emphasise the creature's impotence (in almost every sense of the word).

Typhon & Echidna Coupling (2011)

In original ancient Greek descriptions, Typhon and Echidna are both frightful monsters that together conceived many of the now iconic beasts of Greek mythology; the Lernaean Hydra, the Chimera and Cerberus to name a few. However, in this piece, the two have been depicted as beings that are otherwordly yet possess great capacity for human compassion (certainly for each other). They embrace one another as if the most intimate of lovers. Constantin Brancussi's 'The Kiss' (1907) was a major influence on the sculpture's form and its construction inspired by the works of Thomas Houseago and Sarah Lucas.

21st Century Baphomet (2011)

The original figure is a mystery on its own, due to the continual misunderstanding of its existence. Although the name had existed centuries before its established image, Baphomet was officially conceived in 1855 by magician Eliphas Levi as a symbol of humanity attaining intellectual divinity through understanding and neutrality. However, with the passing of the 20th century, I feel Levi's romanticised image for humanity will never pass anything beyond a fantasy. So, this curious creature was to be depicted as something wretched and sinister. Its body is now broken and battered due to our preoccupation with conflict, hence much of piece was constructed from military uniform and equipment. Such composition is very much like Michael Sandle's similarly titled 'Twentieth Century Memorial' (1971-1978) and this Baphomet stands with a surprisingly imposing demeanour comparable to Jacob Epstein's original 'Rock Drill' (1913).

Self Portrait as 21st Century Baphomet (2011)

'Myths & Mysteries': Portfolio and Exhibition Pt. 6

Portfolio Drawings:

Various drawn interpretations to the wire sculpture Langsuir (2010).

Top to bottom: marker pen, graphite, chalk and tippex.

Backgrounds on all applied by acrylic paint.

Just as I had (slightly) experimented with reinterpreting the forms of my wire sculptures from the 'Body & Form' project, I decided to produce various drawings/paintings to further explore media.

Langsuir/Manananggal (2011)

Silver Centaur (2011)

Although the above silver marker and white acrylic was a more literal presentation of the original sculpture, I took a significantly different approach with the brushpen drawing. I tried to play around with the sculpture's form and appropriately translate it as part of the creature's anatomy. Because of the curving of Siilver Centaur's body, following the lines of it made the figure appear rather alien in comparison to the typical depiction that may be seen of a centaur, certainly compared to what you'd expect to see from any major film, for instance.

Centaur the Sagittarius (2011)

Bullman's Lair (2011)

Bullman's Lair was definately the more experimental of any of my Japanese-inspired drawings, not only was the drawing done on a piece of card taken from Langsuir/Manananggal but was also the only one 'drawn' using an actual brush and ink. I decided the bring out the details on the Bullman's musculature using tippex.

Lernaean Hydra (2011)

I very much liked how simplified the original form of the Hydra piece was so I kept close to that using minimal colours to create another abstracted representation of the creature. With the bulk of its body being black acrylic, I used grey to highlight parts of its body, the necks in particular. I like to think the grey helps give a little more sense of movement from the creature, perhaps more so than the sculpture.

Basilisk - Purple Body (2011)

For both depictions of the Basilisk sculpture, I hoped to create the sense of movement suggested by its body, given the comment received with regards to the original piece. At times, I wonder if the legs can be difficult to distinguish with the ink/marker pen drawing as there isn't exactly any apparent lines to set the thin legs apart from each other.

Basilisk (2011)
 

Decomposition (2011)

Decomposition was actually produced after all other ink/paint based works, as a more literal presentation of Life Cycle of Salamanders. The other artwork relating to Salamanders, however, I consider more interesting, more so due to how they explore the Salamander's relation as a pivotal icon within alchemy and potentially symbolism itself.

Indestructible in Fire (2011)

Salamanders (2011)

Lizards in Alchemy (2011)

Coatlicue, the Serpent Goddess Enters (2011)

Because of how much the rubber snakes used for the sculpture stood out from the Indian ink black figure, I decided to incorporate colour for detail on the snakes of Coatlicue for this drawing. The layout of the image, with Coatlicue ascending what appears to be the staircase of a temple of some sort, was actually inspired by a scene called The Emerald Altar, made by fantasy artist Luis Royo.

The Dagda (2011)

For the drawings based on my Dagda Idol I ended up producing two images. The one shown above was to emphasise on the details of the sculpture put into drawing. Various details to Dagda's anatomy has been reinterpreated accordingly to their representation on the sculpture: the asymmetry of his eyes, shape of his left hand held out and simplified shape of the genitals, even the club has been drawn to refer to the scupture's club being a rolled sheet of metal.

Although I feel the drawing provides an interesting vision for a rarely recognised mythological figure, it is more than understandable how peers found my other image, more emphasising on its possible environment, was more welcoming.

The Dagda's Resting Valley (2011)

Untitled (KFCockatrice) (2011)

This picture for the sculpture KFC (Kentucky Fried Cockatrice) was produced from a mix of ink, acrylic paint, mod-roc and marker pen. PVA glue was applied to both keep the mod-roc in place during presentation in my portfolio and give the body its gloss, not unlike the original sculpture.

I never created any drawn or painted re-imaginings of the Tsuchigumo sculpture, due to the lack of appeal gained from any people. However, it would certainly seem unnecessary to produce at least a brushpen depiction, on account of how the model sculpture itself was a reconstruction of scenes as shown in the sort of traditional Japanese artworks that inspired its conception.

Tsuchigumo no Sōshi Emaki (13th cen.), artist unknown.

Colchion Dragon (2011)

Much like the painting for the Hydra sculpture, that of the Colchion Dragon was abstracted from most detail to the point I consider this more appealing to the chaotic coiling of Lernaean Hydra. The brushpen drawing then served as a contrast in detail, attempting to develop detail similar to that of Japanese ink landscapes, and applying them to the Colchion Dragon to make it blend in with its surroundings. This was made to focus on the role of the dragon as a guardian, its presence easily concealed by its surroundings to catch those nearby off guard.

"Dragons often protect treasure, perhaps representing the value of deep understanding to be found in the chthonic depths with which the dragon is also frequently associated."
- The Oxford Companion to World Mythology by David Leeming

Colchion Dragon Guarding the Fleece (2011)

Dullahan, the Headless Sentry (2011)

Admittedly, this concept was originally developed as an attempt to fill in space for my portfolio, on account of my urgent need to catch up for assessment purposes. The main idea was rather simplistic, like many other pieces shown here. I used different materials in different colours to produce two contrasting representations of the same figure.

'Myths & Mysteries': Portfolio and Exhibition Pt. 2

28/5/2011

As a way of reflecting on my experimental approach to producing the various sculptural works for this project, I intended on producing a series of mixed media drawings.

Dullahan, the Headless Sentry (2011)

Colchion Dragon (2011)

I got the idea when contemplating how I could draw out the figure of '21st Century Baphomet' while giving it some of the texture of the original piece. I would re-call breifly looking to Henri Matisse's late studies of the human body, made from cuttings of pre-painted paper. In particular, I thought this similar effect would be interesting to see with materials like the bin bags, as used for the wings.

Self-Portrait as 21st Century Baphomet (2011)

 

 

29/5/2011

 

Tracing back to the project's base concept of mythology, I re-called my early attempt at an ink drawing, 'Japanese Chimera'. I have decided to once again produce similarly stylised drawings based on the depictions as presented from my sculptures. These may become something like bestiary series of images.

 



Bullman's Lair (2011).

 

As based on the sculpture Bullman Idol, the above depiction of the Minotaur was made armless.

 

The Dagda's Resting Valley (2011)

 

Basilisk  (2011)

 

 

4/6/2011

 

In addition to chalk, pastel and/or charcoal drawings of my works throughout the project, I had been working on experimental pieces using acrylic and ink. These were based on 'Life and Death of the Salamander'. Primary experimentation involved testing for the control of ink flow. Later pieces would be made more elaborate through the incoporation of symbolism derived from alchemy.

 

Salamanders (2011)

 

Decomposition (2011)

 

Indestructable in Fire (2011)

 

Lizards in Alchemy (2011)