While Panoply create animations from ancient Greek vases, this post is dedicated to other artwork born from the vase. First up on the photostream, you’ll see a brilliant little piece by cartoonist, Matt, who brought Greek vases to the front page of a UK broadsheet during the 2012 Olympics. This link will take you to an article about his curious career as a cartoonist: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9888271/Matt-cartoons-25-years-of-a-gentle-genius.html
The photostream also includes pieces based on the distinctive style of so much ancient Greek pottery, with its use of strong contrast and intricate boarders. There’s a piece by Robert Weigand, who brings a 20th century biker twist to the classic vase scene and one from Andre Asai (aka asaifactory on deviantart.com) who brings the Star Wars universe to ancient Greece – a modern myth in an ancient style!
Outstanding mention goes to Ron Hutt, for his project, Greek Myths Redux http://ronhutt.org/. In this imaginative series, we see contemporary social issues explored through images that reflect ancient myth and art: the Fates weaving DNA, a Muse playing computer games, Athena filming Apollo, and Heracles fighting alongside ‘stem-cell warriors’.
Ancient Greek vases were created for a contemporary audience. Their scenes reflected contemporary interests in myth and daily life, offering us offer a glimpse into the headspace of a bygone people. But while classical vase scenes are specific to a time and place, they’re so old that they can also remind us of the enormous scale of human history – of just how much time has gone before us and will do after, and of the power of art to capture a moment within that huge picture. By drawing on the style of ancient vases, these re-workings encourage consciousness of our time’s own brief moment of cultural space within the huge timescale of human history. Whilst they’re largely playful, they can also prompt us to reflect on what scenes we feel would capture today’s zeitgeist, and perhaps to ask how we might like to be regarded two or three thousand years from now. What would you have on your vase?
