Inspiration of the Muses
I was honored this past year to receive a commission to paint a permanent art installation: a triptych for Chorus Hall theater. Picture above is still in my studio drying before installation (see below for details and final piece in place). Heres the description:
What is your inspiration? Do you have a muse whispering in your ear? Is she a young blond woman wrapped in a toga? Is she even a woman or human? Let's reconsider our muses.
This triptych of the three muses depicts a reinvisioning of our inspirations. This is history coming back to life. Ancient statues, our forgotten ideals, are coming back to us with their true faces, or at least a few of the myriad possibilities.
These three muses are chosen to represent the art of the theatre. Euterpe, the muse of music and lyric poetry, plays on his flute, the oldest known to mankind, his music caught in the winds of time and change, both inevitable. His pedestal is the lotus, the same base and symbol used by so much of the world near him. A little magical three tailed fox, who also wanders the mythical byways of cultures, is his muse. Will the fox turn into a beautiful Asian woman and love him or will it trick him? Is the fox your muse?
Our central painting depicts the muse of tragedy and of comedy. Her arm holding the smiling mask, coming alive again, comes from a painting of the muse of comedy- Thalia, by the painter J.H. Tischben in 1771. But our gorgeous muse is also Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, theatre, and chorus. She cradles the mask of her ancestor, a 16th century Queen Mother from Africa, on her hip, her ivory visage forever broken by time and tragedy. Even the symbolic grapes are coming back to life, the fruits of our muses own inspiration, and a symbol of Bacchus and celebration.
Lastly we have Terpsicore, the muse of Dance and also Chorus. She dances with joy, like the mumeration of starlings that streak the sky behind our muses. These birds dance and sing in symphony, and are stronger together. Starlings symbolize community, transformation, and communication. The three grains of wheat are our three muses in community together.
