Gargoyles
This series of drawings and paintings are the creative fruits of a month-long residency in Strasbourg, France that was supported by the Boston/Strasbourg Sister City Association. These gargoyles adorn the façade of the splendid, medieval pink sandstone cathedral in the heart of the city. I was at once struck by the contradiction between the hideous, squat, base images of the gargoyles and the ethereal, ascendant structure of the cathedral itself. These opposing images seemed to reflect an essential polarity of the human spirit—for here was the sacred with the profane, the sublime with the vulgar.
Apparently these figures are vestigial relics of the pagan religions that flourished in this region before the advent of Christianity. Because the church was unable to fully expurgate these ancient demons and spirits, it ultimately adopted them into its own iconography and mythic lore. The gargoyles simultaneously personify evil while becoming fierce guardians of the temple, canalizing the forces of good. They reach back to primordial fears, and though our conception of the world has changed over the centuries, they still touch on some deep, remote part of ourselves.
I saw in these images—and indeed in the construction of the massive cathedral itself —a powerful expression of the awe their creators felt in the face of overwhelming forces—be it a judgmental God or capricious Nature. Perhaps today, too, we still suffer from a sense of impotency and apprehension—only now the terrors are largely human-made. And in our own ways, we are moved by hope to try to placate and petition these forces by erecting imposing idols.