Amphitrite

This painting is part of a small series with two other painting that work as a diptych. These paintings are depictions of a new myth I wrote about why the change over in Greek mythology from Helios to Apollo as the sun god. In my new myth Helis as he is flying across the sky as the sun sees Amphitrite, an ocean deity rising out of the waters. He falls in love (or lust) and drives his horses down to her. When fire meets water exactly what you would expect to happen does.

In the two large paintings that make up the diptych I am working with joining representational figures with stylized backgrounds. There are varying levels of stylization as well. I stylized the fish and the two types of horses but still retain something of their realistic forms while the water, sky and sun are pure invention. Amphitrite’s horse is a representation of the water-horses in the fountain at Millenium Park in Chicago. The philosophies of the water and the sky are pulled from both pre-Greek art and Asian art. The execution of water in Japanese painting and Minoan painting influenced my illustration of my water. The sun is directly influenced by the Japanese flag and while I was arranging my composition I was thinking about Asian perspective. As with many of the paintings in this project, I wrote a prose poem for the grouping and had my handwriting laser cut to create relief sculpture which I then painted. This text is installed around the paintings when the paintings are displayed.