This
work grew out of a single painting: the image in the upper left panel developed
as I was reading a book by Eugene Monnick, a Jungian analyst, called Castration
and Male Rage: the Phallic Wound. I wanted to paint the depotentiated
Attis (whose myth was a leitmotif in the book) as a figure of joy, dancing,
in spite of his mad, self-inflicted wound. The paradox of that image soon
grew from personal psychological rumination to a larger view of the society
we live in: our freedom as individuals underpinned by a growing sense of
political impotence, and vague spiritual longing; consumerism and corporatism
an invisible double-edged knife that threatens us. The notes and intuitions
that accompany each individual panel are to serve as introduction, not definitive
interpretation.
First, the
story of Attis from Monnick's summary: Queen Cybele, goddess of caverns,
patroness of wild beasts, a nature goddess, Queen of the gods, fell in
love with the semi-divine youth, Attis. She caused Attis to go mad when
she learned of his love for Sangaride, a mortal. Attis, in his madness,
castrates himself. After he regains his sanity and discovers what he has
done, he decides to kill himself. Cybele intervenes by turning him into
a fir tree. Because of his association with the evergreen Attis symbolizes
renewal.
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