Breath of the Gods

Thomas Sayre
2020

Category: Mural

The dominant image of the artwork comes from old maps from the 17th Century, which depicted the gods of the universe blowing breath into the ocean in order to propel sailboats around the world as it was then known. This take on celestial wind connects the wind of old to the billowing steam power of the 19th Century, to the smoke of the internal combustion engine of the 20th Century and to the misty vapor of liquid oxygen used in some contemporary rocket flight, and to who knows will propel us in the future. The dance of light and shadow seeks to be a delicate counterpoint to the heavy steel members of the canopy structure which, in turn, is reminiscent of the industrial past of the immediate neighborhood and, in particular, the distinctive “semaphore” which were used to control train traffic.