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Icarus
Icarus
Icarus

Icarus

Artist Scott Greene born 1958 Denver, Colorado; lives Bernalillo, New Mexico
Date1995
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions22 1/8 × 16 1/4 × 1 3/4 in. (56.2 × 41.3 × 4.4 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, gift of Ray Graham
Object numberPC2020.8.106
DescriptionA painting depicting a figure wearing a white shirt and dark pants as he walks barefoot, and urgently, toward a distant fire whose source is obscured by the man's body. "Icarus" referes the Greek myth concerning boy who, with wings made of wax, flies too close to sun and burns his wings. He falls toward the earth and meets his demise, just as his father had warned.
On View
Not on view
Text Entries

Ingenio, humor y sátira

25 Junio 2022 – 29 Enero 2023


En la mitología griega, la historia de Ícaro habla de un joven que vuela demasiado cerca del sol y termina precipitándose hasta morir por no hacer caso de la advertencia de su padre, Dédalo, que le dijo que el sol derretiría la cera que mantenía unidas las alas que había fabricado para volar. En el paisaje de Scott Greene, una figura vestida con ropa moderna da la espalda al espectador y parece como si saliera humo de la parte superior de su cabeza ¿o quizá se trata de humo en la distancia? De cualquier modo, la figura se mueve apresuradamente por el denso paisaje con los pies apenas rozando el suelo, como si huyera. Esta nueva narración del cuento de Ícaro de Greene refleja la fragilidad del paisaje de Nuevo México utilizando el humor y la tragedia.

Exhibition: Wit, Humor, & Satire

on view June 25, 2022 - January 29, 2023


In Greek mythology, the story of Icarus is the tale of a boy who flies too close to the sun, only to plummet to his demise despite the warning from his father, Daedalus, that the sun will melt the wax supporting the fabricated wings he glides on. In Scott Greene’s landscape a figure dressed in modern clothing is turned away from the viewer, either with smoke coming from the top of his head, or is it smoke in the distance? Either way, the figure moves hurriedly through the lush landscape with his feet barely grazing the ground, as if in flight. Greene’s retelling of Icarus reflects on the fragile New Mexico landscape using humor and tragedy.