FALSE IDOL, TRUE GOD: 10/01/2021-10/02/2021
Gallery 1010
100 S. Gay St., Suite 114
Knoxville, TN 37902
A story about the search for the true meaning of divinity
“The First Act of Love,” Mixed media on canvas, 2021.
The conception of the gods
Is shrouded and hidden from us like murky water.
From that muck, they were shaped
By those forgotten in name
In the warm dark of that place.
Perhaps it could be called the first act of love, if such a thing
could be said,
And with some certainty,
It can be said
That the ugliest of things
Are bred from love.
“The Old Blanket,” Engraving and drypoint, 2021.
For one who insists that his past is behind him,
This object has been treated with care
And is only worn through consistent use.
Some part clings to
The left behind tatters
Like a child clings to a blanket.
In truth, it is alright to mourn for that child.
Yes, that child did not die
And only became something else entirely
Like threads being woven together so tightly, incable of being
unraveled, of returning to their singular state.
Still, it is not weakness to wish, if only for a moment,
That things might have been different
“Heir,” Mixed media, 2021
We are always striving to be closer to godliness,
But what does that even mean anymore?
Long ago, the gods
Forsook one of their own in pursuit of their own interests
And set in motion a means to no end
Fueled by a lofty promise, “the most gracious of gifts”
The chance to become more than a man, more than anything on this earth,
Surely, a god cannot defined by a singular ability, or emotion,
or action, or creation
They are multitudes of things, who in spite of everything,
feed off of love.
And in that sense, perhaps we are closer to them than we
thought.
JACE HERMANTO 