Pygmalion II by Halloran Parry

Title:	Pygmalion II
Date Created:	2024
Copyright:	© 2024 Halloran Parry
Genre:	Unpublished Art
Mediums:	Oils
Views:	62
Posted:	10/8/2024

The thing about myths is people tell the same series of events very differently. How we interpret a myth says more about us than it does about the myth. You can tell the same story a lot of ways and they're all true. Or as true as any myth ever gets. Broadly speaking, the myth of Pygmalion was that a sculptor (Pygmalion) fell in love with one of his own pieces and was so taken by it that he petitioned Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to bring it to life. Which she did. The popular understanding of this myth these days comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and in his version Pygmalion is too good for all mortal women so he has to sculpt his own. But to me, it's a story of hard work and personal investment and the desperation we feel when we've given our best to the thing that matters most and we're terrified it's not enough. This is the second painting in a series, capturing the part of the work when the work is going well.