ThinBull

Involution-Evolution

1966-1972

wire h 86 cm

Dedicated the islands of Crete and Manhattan

The thread of life is woven by the power of creation, of which the bull is the ancestral symbol. According to mythology, Zeus turned himself into a bull to trick and seduce Europa.

We could say that the power of the intellect is the root and the engine of existence, because the power of thought encourages the act of creation. Creation and procreation are determined by the same urges. The energy that is released in the act of artistic creation is comparable to that released in the act of procreation. Not unexpectedly, here the bull’s phallus appears to be shooting through the bull’s head.

In Greek mythology, the three Fates presided over the destiny of men: Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis determined how long each thread would be, and Atropos cut the thread at the appointed time.

In this work we see, at one end of the wires, a silver thimble, and at the other end, the horns of a bull. The thimble represents a return to childhood, when the artist’s mother hid a silver thimble in the Christmas pudding. Whoever found the thimble in their piece of pudding would receive a gift, or good luck for the following year.