Pan & Syrinx Painting

My interpretation of a statue depicting the greek mythological characters Pan and Syrinx. Fitted with hardware and ready to hang. This work was apart of my college entrance portfolio, entitled Caryatid, which discusses the new "f-word". I wanted to explore imagery of strong women. Women who remain powerful regardless of any misogynistic trial they may face. I have selected statutes as my subjects because they are literally strong women–women depicted out of stone. The vast majority of these figures are located at the Art Institute of Chicago. During my process of creating, I realized that every woman I was re-forming had been sculpted by a man, be it Rodin or Cordier. Each statue is molded out of either bronze, marble, or concrete–they are black and white. Each is almost completely smooth, unblemished, streamline. In this way, these idealized figures are not true representations of any woman. With my work, never do I rely on black and white. Instead, each piece features a wide assortment of color. They are not seamless but rather broken apart by my individualized brushstrokes. I feel as though I am almost taking a hammer to the marble, cracking it open so as to abolish their previous treatment, to get a glimpse at what lies within. Each woman has her own story which I attempt to allude to in her title. I acknowledge that my collection of works would not exist without the initial sculptors–these men. I am not a man-hater because I am a feminist.