In Thru The Labyrinth, Out Thru The Axons
Natasha Oslinger
You have a beautiful mind, Apollo. For my art concentration, I decided to write a book that combines poetry, collage, and symbolism to describe the story of Icarus. In my story, Icarus is in love with the sun (represented by sun god Apollo) and Apollo loves him too. Much like the hubris that leads Icarus to fly too close, Apollo’s greed and lust to hold Icarus leads to his wings melting and his drowning in the sea. The books starts on the front cover, which bears a photo of the greek god Apollo with the title above it. The next page consists of an inner page cover with four overlapping photos, the first is a collage of connected line drawings, on top of that is the ocean (symbolizing where Icarus met his end), on top of that is a maze (symbolizing the labyrinth), and on top of that is a heart. Next is the dedication page simply reading “This Book Is Not Dedicated To You.”
Page one and two consist of the premise of the book, a poem on the left from Apollo’s point of view and one on the right from Icarus’s, each segment of the poem is meant to be read in order of its roman numeral header. In the top left hand corner is a drawing I did of Apollo using a micron pen, he is broken in half to symbolize his breaking after the death of Icarus. On the bottom right hand corner is a similar drawing of Icarus melting, symbolizing the wax of his wings. I made these first two pages, although full of symbolism and poetic language, simple. I did this so the premise of the book would be understood and the following pages could be more more abstract and cryptic.
Page three displays a chapter of an old book titled The Werewolf: Lycanthropy, this is foreshadowing for a later plot point about the beast of the labyrinth. On page five is a drawing I did with copic markers and Micron pens of two hearts connected by their arteries as well as a poem written from Icarus’s point of view directed towards Apollo. Page five only grows more abstract, showing only an installment from the Jewish-Pagan Cookbook, respectively the original title of this art piece was “The Jewish-Pagan Cookbook and Introduction to Lycanthropy and How to Live Forever.” This title, however, is now more of an unofficial subheader describing some of the contents of the pages. Page six is a series of 8 cluster photographs I have collected over the years that I have collaged to represent chaos.
Page seven and eight are the “how to live forever” portion of the book. These pages illustrate a collage of hearts, stickers, organs, paint, angels, as well as instructions on how to live forever. Page nine focuses on another aspect of the Icarus story line. Icarus’s father is the creator of the labyrinth, so in my book, I decided to incorporate a story line between Icarus and the beast of the labyrinth. In my story, the beast has fallen in love with Icarus, claiming because Icarus is the only human to ever treat it as more than a beast, as something with worth and value. Page nine consists of a poem, written by the beast, that can be read between the lines of a maze. This poem speaks of the beast’s love for Icarus and its devastation once it finds out about his death. Page ten is simple a page clustered with colorful smiling stickers, this was meant to add contrast to the heavy nature of my writing.
Page 11 is another instalment of the Jewish Pagan Cookbook. Page 12 pictures a drawing I did using graphite as well as the words “alis grave nil.” These words can be seen hidden in pages all around the book as well as on the back cover. It is a latin phrase meaning “nothing is heavy to those who have wings,” this is symbolic of Icarus’s storyline. Page 13 is a collage of candy wrappers with the beast of the labyrinth drawn digitally over them. Page 14 is another poem, this time written from Apollo’s point of view directed towards Icarus. Page 15 is of a wolf’s mouth devouring a series of hearts as well as a short poem about the phenomenon of pain asymbolia. Finally, the back inner page of the book is the same as the front inner cover, only instead of a photo of the sea it displays Icarus’s wings.
One struggle I had with this book was consistency in common knowledge and wanting to re-tell a detailed story from mythology without over-explaining to the reader. I feel most people have a general knowledge or at least have heard the story of Icarus, but, most won't know that his father was the creator of the labyrinth or that Apollo is the god of the sun. Another struggle I had was printing the book. I constructed the book so that each page would be double sided and I ordered the pages systematically (so they would be in the correct order when folded in half.) But when printing, I was unable to print double sided. One thing that came easy to me was incorporating many different elements to provide a specific feeling to the work, I enjoy making art that the viewer must interact with and decrypt. I also like how I can print out a copy of this book at a moments notice and the viewer can take it with them. Overall, I am proud of the work I did for the concentration, it accomplishes what I had in mind when constructing it.
Natasha Oslinger
You have a beautiful mind, Apollo. For my art concentration, I decided to write a book that combines poetry, collage, and symbolism to describe the story of Icarus. In my story, Icarus is in love with the sun (represented by sun god Apollo) and Apollo loves him too. Much like the hubris that leads Icarus to fly too close, Apollo’s greed and lust to hold Icarus leads to his wings melting and his drowning in the sea. The books starts on the front cover, which bears a photo of the greek god Apollo with the title above it. The next page consists of an inner page cover with four overlapping photos, the first is a collage of connected line drawings, on top of that is the ocean (symbolizing where Icarus met his end), on top of that is a maze (symbolizing the labyrinth), and on top of that is a heart. Next is the dedication page simply reading “This Book Is Not Dedicated To You.”
Page one and two consist of the premise of the book, a poem on the left from Apollo’s point of view and one on the right from Icarus’s, each segment of the poem is meant to be read in order of its roman numeral header. In the top left hand corner is a drawing I did of Apollo using a micron pen, he is broken in half to symbolize his breaking after the death of Icarus. On the bottom right hand corner is a similar drawing of Icarus melting, symbolizing the wax of his wings. I made these first two pages, although full of symbolism and poetic language, simple. I did this so the premise of the book would be understood and the following pages could be more more abstract and cryptic.
Page three displays a chapter of an old book titled The Werewolf: Lycanthropy, this is foreshadowing for a later plot point about the beast of the labyrinth. On page five is a drawing I did with copic markers and Micron pens of two hearts connected by their arteries as well as a poem written from Icarus’s point of view directed towards Apollo. Page five only grows more abstract, showing only an installment from the Jewish-Pagan Cookbook, respectively the original title of this art piece was “The Jewish-Pagan Cookbook and Introduction to Lycanthropy and How to Live Forever.” This title, however, is now more of an unofficial subheader describing some of the contents of the pages. Page six is a series of 8 cluster photographs I have collected over the years that I have collaged to represent chaos.
Page seven and eight are the “how to live forever” portion of the book. These pages illustrate a collage of hearts, stickers, organs, paint, angels, as well as instructions on how to live forever. Page nine focuses on another aspect of the Icarus story line. Icarus’s father is the creator of the labyrinth, so in my book, I decided to incorporate a story line between Icarus and the beast of the labyrinth. In my story, the beast has fallen in love with Icarus, claiming because Icarus is the only human to ever treat it as more than a beast, as something with worth and value. Page nine consists of a poem, written by the beast, that can be read between the lines of a maze. This poem speaks of the beast’s love for Icarus and its devastation once it finds out about his death. Page ten is simple a page clustered with colorful smiling stickers, this was meant to add contrast to the heavy nature of my writing.
Page 11 is another instalment of the Jewish Pagan Cookbook. Page 12 pictures a drawing I did using graphite as well as the words “alis grave nil.” These words can be seen hidden in pages all around the book as well as on the back cover. It is a latin phrase meaning “nothing is heavy to those who have wings,” this is symbolic of Icarus’s storyline. Page 13 is a collage of candy wrappers with the beast of the labyrinth drawn digitally over them. Page 14 is another poem, this time written from Apollo’s point of view directed towards Icarus. Page 15 is of a wolf’s mouth devouring a series of hearts as well as a short poem about the phenomenon of pain asymbolia. Finally, the back inner page of the book is the same as the front inner cover, only instead of a photo of the sea it displays Icarus’s wings.
One struggle I had with this book was consistency in common knowledge and wanting to re-tell a detailed story from mythology without over-explaining to the reader. I feel most people have a general knowledge or at least have heard the story of Icarus, but, most won't know that his father was the creator of the labyrinth or that Apollo is the god of the sun. Another struggle I had was printing the book. I constructed the book so that each page would be double sided and I ordered the pages systematically (so they would be in the correct order when folded in half.) But when printing, I was unable to print double sided. One thing that came easy to me was incorporating many different elements to provide a specific feeling to the work, I enjoy making art that the viewer must interact with and decrypt. I also like how I can print out a copy of this book at a moments notice and the viewer can take it with them. Overall, I am proud of the work I did for the concentration, it accomplishes what I had in mind when constructing it.