Ragnarök

"Ragnarök"

acrylic on birch panel

8 x 10 inches oval, framed

2012

SOLD

Progress shots:

 This piece is for New York City's MF Gallery.  

The name of the show is "See You In Hell II", and the theme is the end of the world/apocalypse.

I'm not a believer in all this 2012 hype about the end of days, and didn't want to make a Mayan or Biblically themed piece, so I looked to Norse paganism for inspiration.

Ragnarök is the series of events which is commonly referred to as the end of the Gods, or "Twilight of the Gods", where a number of important figures meet their demise, there are cataclysmic natural disasters, and the world becomes submerged in water.  Afterwards, the world resurfaces, the remaining Gods reunite, and the world is repopulated by two human survivors.

I wanted to focus on the demise of Odin (the main God) in the jaws of the great wolf, Fenrir.

Fenrir is pictured here, with the large rune, Hagalaz (H) as his symbol, meaning wrath of nature, destructive, uncontrolled forces, loss of power and leading to completion.  Odin's skull sits defeated below, with his rune Ansuz ( the F-looking symbol) on it's forehead, symbolizing Odin himself.

The skull is flanked by monkshood, symbolizing "A deadly foe is near" and rue anemone, symbolizing beginning anew.

And here's the flyer for the show, which opens this Saturday!