Encaustic on a wooden panel «Happy beetle»

Yulia Mamontova
«Happy Beetle»
2019
Encaustic on a wooden panel
27,6″x 39,4″
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 painting is dedicated to the ancient Greek history of the garden flower – astra. Astra translated like “star.” According to legend, stardust fell from the constellation Virgo, which for the Greeks was associated with the goddess of love Aphrodite. Reaching the earth, in those places where particles of dust touched, asters flowers grew, so reminiscent of celestial stars with their inflorescence. The Greeks believed that if you get up at night with growing asters, then in complete silence you can hear. weak whispers so, according to belief, asters keep in touch with their sister stars in the sky. Astra is a symbol of people born under the sign of the zodiac of the Virgin. This flower, sent to people by the gods, identifies sadness in the sky, in a lost paradise, which is no longer achieved. The beetle is happy that it happened on a starry night to hear what asters with stars talk about and take part in a conversation about the secrets of being.