Myths in the artworks of Matthew Barney

Abstract

Mathew Barney (San Francisco, 1967) is a talented, multidisciplinary, American artist who is mostly known for his cinematographic works. His very complex scenarios reinterpret and reinvent known myths with a baroque esthetic. In this analysis, I will show how mythology inspires the artist and how he uses myths as metaphors for our time.

A myth has been defined by Roland Barthes as a pure ideological system, in which form is less important than concept and by no means covers its totality. The myth is in a fact a speech, preserved through generations and time, which stands out by its poetic elaboration or ritual representation. Myths are composed of situations, beings and events escaping the common realities of every-day life. The motivation that pushes the artist to seek mythological references is linked to the very large repertory of imagery and symbols carried by these stories. During Antiquity, mythology was a key genre in literature, offering its readers a large scope of situations. Their significance becomes an important part of the world’s Universal Conscience. Contemporary myths projected by Mathew Barney start in 1993 and within the next following years, become increasingly real. Barney envisions this change by introducing the idea of myth into present-day realities.

Recurrent themes appear in Mathew Barney’s repertoire: the relation between life and death, the body as the end of the battle, the calling into question of hybris, and the violent emotions inspired by passion and pride. I will analyze these three notions, throughout different works of Mathew Barney.