Michael Petry - Libation to Eros

Libation to Eros, consists of a performance art work and a bronze edition. For the performance, Petry filled a large wall in the gallery with black arrows, which he shot one at a time, while viewers were in the room. A similar life sized arrow has been cast in solid bronze and has jet black patination. Petry wants viewers of the performance to experience up close the power of an arrow piercing the flesh of a wall. For classical people, the notion of being struck by Eros’ arrow was a life and death event. Eros was always depicted as a virile male youth, unlike the Roman version of the god, Cupid, who was depicted as a baby. The arrow was the height of military technology and if one was struck in a battle, he almost certainly died. If the barb could be removed, the amount of flesh torn from the body and resultant infection was likely to bring death. For modern viewers, being hit by a shoulder launched missile might be a better metaphor; for love, then as now, is a life changing event, and we often forget that...