TRAVIS DURDEN, MYTHS AND IDOLS. STAR WARS IN THE ARTISTIC ENCOURAGE

The project Myths and Idols, by the French photographer Travis Durden, came into being in 2015 by means of digital technology. The artist processed photos of nine selected modern sculptures, mostly related to ancient matters, in order to provide them with the attributes or heads belonging to the heroes of the famous Star Wars saga. The sculptures chosen by Durden for his project had been created by European artists (French sculptors and one Italian master) and they are exclusively of an early modern provenance (arising from the Renaissance, Classicism, and Neoclassicism). Not a single work of ancient art is included. However, the classical (ancient) art itself became an object of the Parisian sculptor’s interest in terms of taking early modern art into account as the artists of the latter patterned themselves on ancient samples and picked up ancient subject matters. Likewise, Star Wars in turn constitutes a product of the American pop- culture frequently referring to motifs which had originated in ancient culture. The article discusses all nine photo collages and the whole project is being interpreted. Myths and Idols offers an example of the double reception of ancient culture – the early modern and contemporary ones