Mount Olympus!
(tag 699)
2015

Private Collection

Assemblage (34” x 10” x 10”)

Artist description:

This artwork was designed to suggest a Greek temple. The artwork is composed of remnants from an antique foundry mold and the shaft pieces from an antique floor lamp. Atop is affixed a machinist’s bullet lamp that is used for illumination.

In the photograph we see presented idealized masculine beauty in the ancient Greek tradition. The photograph has been wrapped in copper wire to suggest that the men depicted are imprisoned and/or otherwise removed from mainstream society.

Greece was the birth place of the Olympic games, so it is no surprise that in ancient Greece cultural capital was placed on athleticism. The beauty of a fit, muscular masculine body occupied a central role in Greek culture and aesthetics.

The athletes of ancient Greece typically exercised in the nude in gymnasiums, where they would also socialize and practice sports in the nude. Men were encouraged to maintain their manly bodies. Indeed, any sign of flabbiness was seen as undesirable. The later remains true today in our culture, leading to problems with body dysmorphia and body shaming. A physically fit male is desired in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

The two men depicted here are flexing their muscles and showing their bodies to their sexiest effect. The question arises: Are they posing for an observer or are they posing for each other? The title of this artwork is a pun on the title’s command, and it is left to the viewer to decide which one is Olympus.