Mythological plots in a new way: Andromeda's escapism and Icarus' self-confidence as interpreted by Jeffrey Batchelor

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The surreal world of Jeffrey Batchelor is inhabited not only by characters invented by the artist himself. Rethinking ancient mythological plots, the author speaks of modernity. The isolation of people from the real world, wasting time in vain - just contemplating illusions, the possibility (or impossibility?) To find a middle ground between fiction and reality - these are the questions that worry the painter.

The Imprisonment of Andromeda

According to ancient Greek myth, Andromeda was chained to a rock, where she expected death at the clutches of a sea monster. But Perseus saved her and, like a decent hero, married the princess. The artist Jeffrey Batchelor turns the mythological plot inside out: modern Andromeda is not chained to a cliff, but chained in a strange space, where sand rests against a wall, and the sea turns out to be just old photo wallpapers. The poster with the sea closes the window, which means that the real world is being replaced by a frozen picture. Another substitution - ordinary life with imaginary adventures - is embodied by the books piled on the windowsill. Pure escapism is a departure from reality.

On the books and on the left on the wall, we see withered roses - a traditional symbol of past beauty. While the heroine lives in a fictional world, time passes, and not only flowers and not only her beauty fade. The spirit withers, and the determination to break free and see the real sea decreases. A small photo, attached to the left of the poster window, depicts Andromeda's dream: a girl enters the sea waves - a free element. Is this dream destined to come true? Or will the heroine remain sitting near the old poster, like Carlo's dad near the painted hearth? Will she never escape from the strange space, like a butterfly imprisoned in a soap bubble?

Icarus

In a famous mythological plot, Icarus paid for arrogance. Due to the fact that he flew too high, the sun melted the wax, and his wings crumbled. It is dangerous to be arrogant and conceited, we must not forget about the rules and succumb to momentary hobbies.

In the interpretation of Jeffrey Batchelor, Icarus is an artist, in essence a faceless puppet, which is able to take off only thanks to the wings-tassels. Self-confidence and conviction in one’s righteousness can lure the creator of the beautiful into disastrous heights, or even lock him in a world he himself has fictionalized, into which mere mortals will not enter, because they will cease to understand the bird's language of the creator. The main thing in this case is to find a middle ground between the imaginary and the real world, between self-confidence and the inability to defend one's position, between truth and opinion.

The two drawings on the right are a wing by Dürer and a sketch by Rubens, to which Geoffrey Batchelor added wings. The bottom edge of the paper is already on fire, as if from the scorching sun. Meanwhile, a cloud is coming from the sea - a symbol of illusory hope for a happy ending. If, indeed, in the myth, a cloud obscured the sun, then the wax would not melt - and Icarus, perhaps, would have survived. But mythology, like history, does not tolerate the subjunctive mood. One way or another, it seems that Icarus would still be on the rampage: he would not have risen to the sun of reason - he would have sunk into the salty abyss of self-destruction, completely forgetting that he is flying not alone, but together with Daedalus.