Benji Alexander Palus
Finding my Muses; Erato, Polymnia, and Techne
The questions have been asked for centuries: Why do artists create? What ignites the spark of inspiration? Is inspiration even real? After decades of study and self reflection, I've found that the answers are unique to each of us. After all, if there were a single concrete answer to any of these questions, we'd stop asking.
The ancient Greeks believed that inspiration came from the Nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Titan Goddess of Memory, as well as a few personified spirits such as Techne. As a figurative realist painter whose entire body of professional work focuses on women, the term muse has long held a romantic fascination for me. Invariably drawn to explore the feminine in my work, there is an enchanting allure to the idea that the quiet voice that whispers to me of beauty is female.
I've often studied the muses and their roles in the arts and sciences in an effort to better understand my own artistic voice and where it comes from. The roles of the muses have evolved over thousands of years, often overlapping. There are even nine new muses for the modern age, overseeing new and different art forms as they are created. The term muse itself has evolved as well, today encompassing anything to do with the acts of creation and invention, personified in people that inspire, even places that breathe life into our souls.
So what has all this study taught me about myself? What are the sources of my own inspiration? Which muses' graces would I call upon to guide my thoughts and hands? There are three: Erato, Polymnia, and Techne.
Erato is the muse of love poetry. Her name roughly translates to desired or lovely. She is often depicted as the most physically beautiful of the muses. I would name her as the source, the what of my inspiration. My paintings come from love, for I feel a deep and sincere love for the women that I paint. It's why I don't work with strangers, nor for commissions. I don't just study how my models are outwardly formed but who they are. That's what makes them beautiful to me, and why there are so few of them.
Polymnia is the muse of sacred hymns. Her name means many praises. She is the why, the reason that I paint. Each painting is a hymn of praise to someone that I love and admire, the result of a need to share what I find most beautiful.
Techne is one of the nine new muses of the modern age. She was originally a goddess of art, craft, and technical skill. Her name is literally translated as art or craftsmanship. She is the how, the execution of the inspiration into physical existence. Working in realism, technical skill is vital to my artistic process. I love the minutiae of capturing the light in someone's eyes, or in the way that a hair's difference in the set of a pair of hands or lips can change the entire mood and meaning of a painting.
Finally there are the women that I work with. They are the real life muses from which I am imbued with inspiration. Each one beautiful, endowed with qualities that give me hope and comfort, that encourage me to do better, be better, their struggles and triumphs often show me the way in my own life, their frailties and resilience give me courage, and their strength and joie de vivre in spite of tragedy and loss shine a light upon my own when hidden from me. They guide me in this artist's life upon the path of beauty.
