Gone with the Wind or Sorrows of Love
The Renaissance poem The Sorrows of Love or Erotica Pathemata was one of the basic motives of this romantic image. This picture in a way is a loose narrative of the mythological story of Apollo and Daphne from the Roman-Greek Hellenistic period of history. I created a modified version of the famous marble sculpture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini which is depicting the final, culmination moment of Apollo chasing nymph Daphne. Even though, the magnificent statue that is the classics of Baroque artistic style is the leitmotif which is taking the center place of the artwork and center of attention, it is not all about these two mythical characters. The fabled couple is not an illustration to the legend, but is rather a historical reference or sublime allusion to an exalted love and sorrow tale, the story which is old as the world. Once upon a time there was love, and it is gone now, the end.
Below is the short version of one of the gods Apollo and nymph Daphne legend; the myth that I find more appealing. The god of the sun and music Apollo was hit through the heart by prankster Eros with the golden arrow, to incite love. At the same time young Eros shot the nymph Daphne with the lead arrow, to incite hatred. Sounds familiar? Apollo continually perused her, begging her to share his feelings, but the nymph continued running away. Finally, he catches up with her, but… she vanishes figuratively into thin air. Most artistic impression of the myth focuses on the moment of Daphne’s transformation to a tree and disappearing (Gone with the Wind) from Apollo’s reach. “Her body curved into wood, her hair converted into leaves, and arms changed into branches.” Daphne sacrificed her body as her only form of escape from the Apollo persuasion. Apollo was devastated, he vowed to cherish the Daphne’s tree, and promised that her leaves would have eternal youth and always decorate his godly crown. To commemorate his sorrow of love Apollo used his powers of immortality to make her ever green. Since then, the leaves of the Bay Laurel tree have never known decay.
Gone with the Wind is the name of a romantic novel by Margaret Mitchell. (Love) gone with the wind would be the more precise title of the image, however I decided not using it in order to broaden deviations of the picture interpretation. We all see and experience affections in a different way. For that exact reason I did not make it “gloomy and doomy” but rather poetic and majestic. The image visuals could be viewed as a distant observation of the one’s feelings evaporating into thin air. The antique columns and architectural motif might be construed as a reference to the loss in time. The hollow door in the middle of nowhere is referencing emptiness and pointless or one’s life and efforts as well as it is symbolising the exit of something that has never been real. Smoke on the water (not to be confuse with the Smoke on the Water song by Deep Purple) and the ocean wave which is going to extinguish it is an allusion to love as a bio-chemical reaction. Specifically, chemical substances such as testosterone, dopamine, and oxytocin which are present in the brain and interact when people experience love. Serotonin effects of being fixated have similar chemical actions to obsessive-compulsive disorder; which explains why infatuation people cannot think of anyone else. Feeling of sorrows of love is an entirely different chemical potion. Oh well, I think I should stop talking, or the picture looks and sounds more like a chemical lab experiment.
(Title Rus) Унесенные Ветром или Воспоминания об Утраченной Любви
Software media: Autodesk 3ds Max ®, Adobe Photoshop ®, Smith Micro Poser ®, Photo Stock
George Grie, March 2014
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Gone with the Wind or Sorrows of Love, classic renaissance surrealism