Battle of Gods and Giants,
Part III:
The Invisible Made Visible
"Leon Golub, an American painter of expressionistic, heroic-scale figures that reflect dire modern political conditions, died on Sunday in Manhattan. He was 82….
In the 1960's he produced a series, called 'Gigantomachies,' of battling, wrestling figures. They were based on classical models, including the Hellenistic Altar of Pergamon. But there was nothing idealized about them."
The Hellenistic Altar of Pergamon,
from Battle of Gods and Giants:
Golub's New York Times obituary concludes with a quote from a 1991 interview:
"Asked about his continuing and future goal he said, 'To head into real!'"
From Tuesday's Battle of Gods and Giants:
This sort of mathematics illustrates the invisible "form" or "idea" behind the visible two-color pattern. Hence it exemplifies, in a way, the conflict described by Plato between those who say that "real existence belongs only to that which can be handled" and those who say that "true reality consists in certain intelligible and bodiless forms."
Perhaps, if Golub is fortunate enough to escape from the afterlife version of Plato's Cave, he will also be fortunate enough to enter Purgatory, where there awaits a course in reality, in the form of…