Canto I (2021 Relief etching and acrylic on canvas 244 x 183cm, One piece) *
December 24, 2023
by Thomas Powers
During the pandemic I was in my studio, never leaving and listening to the news and all this death in the air as if the world was ending. So I started really thinking about afterlife themes, and I ended up with the inferno and my rudimentary idea of it, probably based on movies and Last Judgement paintings.
I felt I really needed more information and bought a copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy which I had never read, just to get more ideas for images. I was so blown away by the completeness of it, I decided I would work my way through the poem. In the beginning I chose cantos that spoke to me visually. I've since been working chronologically.
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"Abandon all hope, you who enter here."
Summary: Canto I
Halfway through his life, the poet Dante finds himself wandering alone in a dark forest, having lost his way on the "true path." He says that he does not remember how he lost his way, but he has wandered into a fearful place, a dark and tangled valley. Above, he sees a great hill that seems to offer protection from the shadowed glen. The sun shines down from this hilltop, and Dante attempts to climb toward the light. As he climbs, however, he encounters three angry beasts in succession—a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf—which force him to turn back.
Returning in despair to the dark valley, Dante sees a human form in the woods, which soon reveals itself to be the spirit, or shade, of the great Roman poet Virgil. Thrilled to meet the poet that he most admires, Dante tells Virgil about the beasts that blocked his path. Virgil replies that the she-wolf kills all who approach her but that, someday, a magnificent hound will come to chase the she-wolf back to Hell, where she originated. He adds that the she-wolf's presence necessitates the use of a different path to ascend the hill; he offers to serve as Dante's guide. He warns Dante, however, that before they can climb the hill they must first pass through the place of eternal punishment (Hell) and then a place of lesser punishment (Purgatory); only then can they reach God's city (Heaven). Encouraged by Virgil's assurances, Dante sets forth with his guide. www.sparknotes.com
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Thomas Power Thomas was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1953 and raised worldwide. He received a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (1976), and an MFA in study arts from Queen's College Graduate School of the Arts, Queens, New York (1979).
His work has been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art (1976), Queens College (1978), Gray Art Gallery, NYC (1983), Dead Blimpie Show, NYC (1985), Yonkers, New York (1989), University of Rutgers, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1990), Lenox Art Gallery, Lenox, MA (1997), Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA (1999, Amy H. Carberry Gallery, Springfield, MA (2002-2003, 2015) Celaya Institute of Art and Culture, Celaya Mexico (2022) Casa de Europa (2023) MacDowell fellow (23).
In the late 1970s, Powers was a musician, appearing in CBGB's,Max's Kansas City and the Uncle Floyd Show. In the 1980s, Powers company Artibus installed shows for: James Turrell (Whitney Museum of Art, PS1), Donald Judd (Leo Castelli Gallery), Dan Flavin (Museum of Modern Art), Tom Wesselmann, Steve Reich, Sol Lewitt, NEW YORK. In the 1990s, Powers illustrated and designed interactive games and animations. In 1993 Harper Collins, New York published the book, The Table and the Chair. IVI published the interactive game Louis Cat Orze (1995). Powers was the art director for Hard Press Publishers from 1996 to 1998. He taught digital media arts as a tenured professor at Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, MA, where he established the Department of Animation Design and Interactive Media (1998 to 2015).
Thomas Powers lives in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, where he designed and built his house and studio.
