ABOUT THE ART

"Punishment of Prometheus", made of magazines and mixed media, is based on a 1640 painting by master artist Jacob Jordaens.
 

Prometheus was a titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to men. That made Zeus really mad, especially after Prometheus fooled Zeus with a fake sacrifice which turned out to be a clay mask on top of a sack of bones. Prometheus was punished for all eternity. He was chained to a rock on a far off island. Each day a huge eagle comes and eats his liver. Each night the liver grows back. Mercury the messenger god occasionally checks up on the punishment. Like the struggle of innovators trying to improve the human condition today, the Prometheus myth celebrates those who dare to defy convention.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

GJ Gillespie is an abstract collage artist living on an island north of Seattle. Winner of 17 awards, his art has appeared in 52 regional shows. The artists he admire tap unconscious feelings of longing for existential meaning that emerge from cultural icons. In his view abstraction should be more than pleasing design. Instead, art should evoke connotations that permit the viewer to experience a sense of wonder, awe and new perspectives of being.

A favorite quote: The world is but a canvas to our imagination. -- Henry David Thoreau.