THE GOLDEN APPLE - New Mixed-Media Figure Painting

The golden apple, latex and metallic spray paint on canvas, 30 x 48", 2021

Golden apples appear frequently in classical mythology. Both Hercules and his ancestor Perseus are connected with the tale of the golden apples of the Hesperides - daughters of the titan Atlas. In some versions of the Hercules myth, he gathers the apples himself. In another version, he recruits the aid of Atlas, offering to relieve the titan of his burden (holding up the heavens on his shoulders). Golden apples also feature prominently in the "Judgement of Paris" which sparks the Trojan War. They appear again in the Atalanta myth, as a form of distraction leading to the heroine losing a footrace to her future-husband. 

The figure of this painting could be any of these heroes, princes or titans. Their hand reaches up to gently pluck one of the golden apples, so small, yet so monumentally significant to theirs and other's lives.