"bA2cchus '70"
Proposal
for a teenage "Villa of the Mysteries"
mural in southeastern
Michigan
Classical forms from Pompeii's "Villa of the Mysteries" frescoes are adapted to depict imagery drawn from the Ann Arbor of thirty years ago, the artist's adolescence, to draw evocative parallels between liminal zones of permission and spirituality in Pompeii and Ann Arbor.
Imagery alludes to historically relevant events that may include the Living Theater's controversial performance of "Dionysius in '69", nubile teenage bodies, rich oriental patterns of clothing, ecstatic rites of acoustic and electric music and dance, ritualized recreational drug use (discreetly handled), political phenomena like the Hash Bash and the White Panther Party's teenage members.
The
artist will use this as an opportunity
to research Pompeii and the Roman
empire to give the work further
depth and dignity.
Figures in mural
(depicting representative types of the era) will
be drawn freehand
by the artist in poses inspired by Pompeiian frescoes,
then scanned
into Adobe Photoshop. There the imagery will be
assembled
and colored, largely umber and Naples yellow on Pompeiian
red
ground.
Relevant imagery, texts and artifacts from Ann Arbor in the 1970s will be scanned and manipulated for a subtle informative background.
Mural will be digitally output to vinyl fabric (as were Mike's "Market Street Carnival" murals in San Francisco) for temporary and/or permanent installation. Bronze leaf accents may be added to the surface after printing or installation.
Mike Mosher's creative works drawing
from his
exciting Ann Arbor youth (Pioneer High School '73) include
the
muralized hypermedia kiosk "Collaborationation:
Cyberspace, Garage Bands and
Community Murals" at the Franklin
Institute, Philadelphia, 1992; the
computer-aided performance
"@narchy A2rbor"
at the Performance
Network, Ann Arbor, 1993; a CD-ROM prototype "The
Ann Arbor
Psychedelic Scene of the '70s", 1994; articles in the
Ann
Arbor Observer and online journal Bad
Subjects; and readings of original
fiction on KFJC-FM.
(c) Mike Mosher 2000
