Encaustic on wood panel «Almond. Phyllis memory»

Yulia Mamontova
«Almond. Phyllis memory»
2020
Encaustic on wood panel
47,2” х 35,4”
Painting was shown at the exhibition «Floral myths of Hellas», Russian Art Museum in
Moscow (Russia, August. 2020).

Description

I like to read the myths of ancient Greece and visualize legends in my own way. This artwork appeared after reading the story of a girl named Phyllis. A girl Phyllis lived In ancient Greece and was in love with Demophon. Phyllis could not survive long separation and turned into a dry tree. Returning to his homeland, Demophon hugged a dried tree and cried relentlessly, watering the branches with tears. Many days and nights, grieving for his beloved, he squeezed a lifeless trunk in the arms. Once the gods of Olympus took pity for Demophon, but Hades did not release Phyllis from the afterlife. And then the tree came to life, leaves dissolved on it and flowers bloomed. The sweet aroma differed from flowers, but with a light mustard, as a memory of love and separation of Phyllis and Demophon. The second legend suggests that almonds grew up in the place where the charming daughter of the Hellenic king Midos took her life after the death of her beloved husband. Therefore, the aroma of flowers and the taste of almonds with a slight inflow of bitterness.