:: 2009 :: 30cm x 82cm (two individual works) :: Acrylics, Inks & Markers on Canvas ::
In Minoan Salute we see a decidedly effeminate but clearly masculine young man in the salutary pose associated with worship as evidenced by bronze and ceramic statuary. It has been theorised by a number of researchers (including McGowan) that such salutary poses were part of a ritualistic dance or system of movement which aimed to produce visionary experiences. This visionary experience is replicated in Minoan Vision, in which an epiphany of the archaic Cretan goddess is seen: conventionally then, the two works are related by the man ‘seeing’ the vision of the woman.
However, in contravention of this ‘male gaze’, we are aware of the piercing eyes of the woman in the vision, and bearing in mind that the countenance of the deity was, for all ancient people, a powerful and above all literally real presence, her piercing eyes equally gaze at the young man beholding her. Thus, the woman also ‘sees’ the man and the two works – the two beings, male human and female deity – stand in reciprocal relationship, gazing at each other. Such a relationship speaks of the partnership (i.e. non hierarchical and relatively egalitarian) that Eisler speaks of as being anciently current throughout the Neolithic and earlier Bronze Age of Europe.
