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拍品专文
The Epic of Gilgamesh was written between 2700 B.C. and around 600 B.C. in Mesopotamia. In the tale, Gilgamesh and his faithful confident Enkidu decide to steal trees from a cedar forest forbidden to mortals in order to build the great temples. The go to Ninsun, the Great Queen to explain that they must travel to the terrifying demon named Humbaba who guards the trees. They explain the journey will be dangerous and the path unknown. The Queen laments her son's fate in a prayer to Shamash, the sun god and patron of travelers, asking why he had put such a restless spirit in her son and begs him for protection, hoping that someday Gilgamesh will be made a god. Adopting Enkidu as her son, she implores him to guard Gilgamesh's life during their perilous journey.
Featured as a special double-spread illustration as a project in the 1981 summer issue of Artforum, Ingrid Sischy addresses the nature of representation in the present work:
"Although Kiefer's picture constructions are not illustrations of history, it is useful to know that this particular work takes the epic of Gilgamesh as its dramatic mise-en-scène. Kiefer's surface reference here is a point along the journey of Gilgamesh and his servant companion Enkidu that took them into a forest with a mountain that was green from cedar trees. One motive that prompted this expedition was the need for timber, with which Gilgamesh could display his power by building great walls and temples. The monumental structures required long beams, for which tall cedar trees were perfect...
The topographical markings on these pages are as likely to be outlines of a painter's palette as they are cedar growth-rings; the light on the characters' faces is as much a fact of photography as it is a reflection of the pessimism inherent in Mesopotamian stories, in which heroes depend on kisses or curses from the gods; and the paths and trees represent contemporary pastoral pictures of what may be the woods near Kiefer's country house (or even woods brought in for studio setup shots) as much as they contract the outer bounds of earth and reality" Ingrid Sischy, "The End of the Avant-Garde? And So the End of Tradition," Artforum, Summer 1981, p. 67.
Featured as a special double-spread illustration as a project in the 1981 summer issue of Artforum, Ingrid Sischy addresses the nature of representation in the present work:
"Although Kiefer's picture constructions are not illustrations of history, it is useful to know that this particular work takes the epic of Gilgamesh as its dramatic mise-en-scène. Kiefer's surface reference here is a point along the journey of Gilgamesh and his servant companion Enkidu that took them into a forest with a mountain that was green from cedar trees. One motive that prompted this expedition was the need for timber, with which Gilgamesh could display his power by building great walls and temples. The monumental structures required long beams, for which tall cedar trees were perfect...
The topographical markings on these pages are as likely to be outlines of a painter's palette as they are cedar growth-rings; the light on the characters' faces is as much a fact of photography as it is a reflection of the pessimism inherent in Mesopotamian stories, in which heroes depend on kisses or curses from the gods; and the paths and trees represent contemporary pastoral pictures of what may be the woods near Kiefer's country house (or even woods brought in for studio setup shots) as much as they contract the outer bounds of earth and reality" Ingrid Sischy, "The End of the Avant-Garde? And So the End of Tradition," Artforum, Summer 1981, p. 67.