Constantine Cavafy’s famous poem Ithaka transforms the singular event of Odysseus’ nostos to his home on the rugged island of Ithaka into a symbolic, repeatable experience epitomized by understanding what ‘Ithakas’ plural mean. Here is the final two stanzas of the poem: Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn’t have set out. […]
Jeff Koons Popeye, 2003 Then I made me way into the tottering house itself and found it all in shambles. A clothesline freighted with frilly red underwear, not mine, and three pairs of long johns, not mine, stretched across the living room. The bathroom reeked of men’s after-shave and colognes – Brute – and was […]
SapphoMartialPublilius SyrusAristotleEuripides[EuripidesThe Trojan Women]Seneca’s Thyestes DiogenesVirgilAeneid Benjamin Jowett[Ovid Amores 1. 8. 40?]Plutarch re CaesarSophoclesAristotle (again)SimonidesSpartansSlain atPlateaLucretius wroteBeing Euripides (again)Being Seneca (again?)[Horace Odes 4. 7 16] Quoth HoraceOdysseus once says Asks someone in Aristophanes
Ulysses turned his back on the harbour and followed a rough track leading through the woods and up to the hills towards the place where Athena had told him. A group of men were idling around an oil barrel in which a fire was burning. He muttered a greeting and stood for a moment with […]
Eleanor Antin Constructing Helen, 2007 (from Helen’s Odyssey) In looking for exhibitions to visit during my upcoming trip to Los Angeles, I will just miss Eleanor Antin: Passengers at Diane Rosenstein Fine Art by one day. I am especially disappointed that I will not get a chance to see her amazing photograph Constructing Helen (above) […]
As his latest Balloon Dog (this time of the orange variety) goes under the hammer at Christie’s tonight, it is worth noting that, when given the chance, its creator, Jeff Koons, has consistently described this particular work of his as a ‘Trojan Horse’. From the current Christie’s sale: “It’s a very optimistic piece, it’s a […]
On Monday in our Classical Mythology/Contemporary Art class, we had our first session of student presentations. Ten students discussed ten art works (listed below in no particular order) in relation to the theme of ‘War, Trauma & Homecoming’. They described the work and then considered how they resonated with the ‘Epic’ Myths we had been […]