This is James Croak's "Pegasus: Some Loves Hurt More Than Others"--1982, life-sized, mixed media. Here is what Croak says of it: "In Greek mythology, after Pegasus threw Bellerophon to fall back to earth, he turned and said, 'A bitter ending awaits those who seek pleasure beyond what is right.' I liked the myth's implicit morality but wanted to translate it into a contemporary context so my secular Pegasus breaks through the top of a 1963 Chevy low rider. These cars are worshipped but their owners live tragic lives."
Barbara Bloemink, in the interview from which the above statement is exerpted, calls the piece "...the perfect visual metaphor for the notion of artists as outlaw hero, breaking out of the confines of conventional conformity."
I look at this image in another way as well--it reminds me of how tempting it is to treat ourselves and each other, and of course, God, as objects that function well or poorly or not at all, but objects nevertheless, and how do you deal with objects? Impersonally! You replace part A with part B, or tinker with this or that, or do some kind of large-scale overhaul, in hopes of getting the desired results. No mystery, no astonishment. But the horse bursts free! How wild and unpredictable life is life, an ever-sacred danger. May we conduct every interaction, even our own intra-actions, with the light, respectful energy such glory requires.
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