Prometheus Unbound

Prometheus Unbound
30x40 Oil on Canvas

The inspiration for this piece is our cultures (meaning the United States) view of what is masculine. Being a male who is a non-violence advocate, vegetarian, and feminist, my masculinity often comes into question. I view this as strange that our culture tends to celebrate men who are the opposite of me, those who don’t think, but “Just do it”, those whose first instinct is to solve a problem with violence instead of reason, who think eating a triple thick burger with bacon is what a real man should eat.

I contrasted this with the myth of Prometheus, the titan who brought fire, and civilization, to man. For doing this, the head god, Zeus, punished him by having an eagle eat his liver each day. I wanted to picture him having set himself free, breaking the bonds of what was forced on him.

A personal touch and personal symbol of mine is the bound legs. I see this as my own dreams, to have such lofty goals that I expect to never have to land again.