Art Manifesto 2011

As I apply the finishing touches on my first project of this year, I feel inclined to try and properly convey the terms of my current series of works.

I.                   Apollo, God of the Sun, Lord of the Muses

I have always had a fascination with the Ancient Greeks, their myths, and their Gods.  Of the entire Pantheon, I hold Apollo dearest.  One of my cats is name after Apollo.  He is the Ancient Greek god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine, healing, and plague; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. 

Sure, he had a mean streak (he was known for being vindictive to those that were NOT true; ie plagues); but through his Muses, Apollo was credited for inspiring creativity and dance, gazing at the heavens, and the Arts of all kinds.  This is the one reason above all else that I have always loved Apollo above all other Olympian Gods.

II.               Muses/Greek; Muses/Adam

In Hellenistic times, Apollo had nine Muses:

1.     Calliope – Epics 

2.      Clio - History 

3.       Erato - Love 

4.       Euterpe - Lyric 

5.       Melpomene - Tragedy 

6.       Polyhymnia - Sacred 

7.       Terpsichore - <edit>Choral and Song

8.       Thalia - Comedy 

9.       Urania – Astronomy

I am certainly no Greek God by any stretch of the imagination, but I do happen to have nine Muses on this Earth.  Not only do I have nine Muses, but each one coincides with the Classical representation of what that Muses was purposed to inspire.

I am thankful to each one of them.

III.            I Have Become Apollo (not really…)

I believe that you are on this planet for a finite amount of time, and to be inspired to create is such an important gift that it should be appreciated and recognized.  Because I am a generally weird and quirky person, this realization of mine has inspired me to create nine sculptures to my Muses as meager birthday offerings. 

  

So as my first offering to The Muses of the Ghetto Jedi is sent out this weekend (already 11 days late as I write this); I reflect on the nine people in this world that have, each in their own way pushed, shoved, loved, inspired, and sometimes hated me into continuing to be the writer and artist that I am.  

Now if I can just find nine people that don’t think that I am a weird freak, then I will be in business…