View the Donovan: Sapphographs Catalogue

The Hellenic American Union is delighted to announce the exhibition, Donovan: Sapphographs which opened on June 1st, 2010 at the Hellenic American Union galleries, in Athens Greece. This exhibition is organized in collaboration with Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies and Govinda Gallery in Washington D.C., curated by Govinda’s Christopher Murray. An online catalogue has been published for this Donovan’s first exhibition in Greece. Adamson Atelier, master printers, have produced the large format works on paper.

The exhibition features twelve monumental works on paper from the Sapphographs series. Inspired by the lyric poetry of Sappho (7th century B.C.), Donovan captures in visual form the mythic beauty of an ancient artistic tradition. Donovan recently said that he ″wishes to encourage the youth of the world to compose poetry again.″ He wants to ″stand with the young Greek poets and be part of returning poetry to the popular culture where it belongs.″

Exhibition curator Christopher Murray writes: “Donovan: Sapphographs evoke the aesthetic sensuality of nature and the power of its rituals to inspire artistic creation. Sappho has been represented and reinterpreted through many artistic mediums since her own time, over 2,500 years ago, up to today. Depicted by some of the greatest painters in museums through the world, in illuminated manuscripts, by playwrights, in novels, in fashion, in ballet, and in popular music, Sappho has been updated in different times in different ways.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the California based art team Revolver is presenting a multimedia installation as a tribute to Donovan: Sapphographs. This installation will allow spectators to experience the Sapphographs in three dimensions.

A compelling series of poetry readings, music and dance performances, and symposiums entitled SapphoFest has been organized around Donovan’s exhibition.

Donovan has also composed the melody Be Mine for some of Sappho’s fragments which is available on Amazon as a download and a cd and will perform the song at the opening of the exhibition.

The Tenth Muse

The Tenth Muse is a three dimensional multi-media installation based on Donovan’s Sapphographs, created by Revolver, the California based art installation team. Revolver partners Braxton Carter and Christiann Moore refer to The Tenth Muse as a piece of ‘technology art’. Carter and Moore formed a creative partnership in 1995, fueled by an interest in the ability to create art in the third dimension. By using the mouse and the keyboard, the spectator can interact with Donovan’s three dimensional Sapphographs by rotating, expanding, closing in, or moving the image forward or backward. The spectators decide whether they want to see one image or five images at a time. Donovan’s Sapphographs will pulsate around the spectator’s point of view as if they were standing inside the Sapphograph. The beauty of the tenth muse is intuitive, hypnotic, and visually stimulating. Revolver created The Tenth Muse to celebrate Donovan’s exhibition of Sapphographs at the Hellenic American Union in Athens.

This video is a sample of a viewer in front of a computer interacting with The Tenth Muse.