Northland Pioneer College’s (NPC) Visual Arts department invites the public to explore a collaborative fusion of the past and present in the Caesars of Rome art exhibition currently on display at the Talon Gallery. The exhibit pairs collaged artwork threaded with history and contemporary themes by Marek Danielewski, complemented with poetic verse by poets Atlas, Margot Berlin, Mollie Connelly-MacNeill, Natasha N. Deonarain, Lessie Dingler, Alfred Fournier, Lester Joos, Autumn McBride, Trevor Ruth, and Randy Sproat.
This collaborative work is in response to The Twelve Caesars, a historical account written by the ancient historian Gaius Suetonius. The writing chronicles the lives and times of the early Caesars of the Roman Empire, from Julius to Domitian.
Through the exhibition, Danielewski illustrates each of the twelve emperors’ lives with insightful portraits featuring mixed media collected from modern city streets, including iconic American imagery such as the Converse shoe star and the American flag. According to the exhibition’s statement, “The familiar contemporary imagery serves to blur the lines of history while implying similarities between the ancient Roman Empire and the United States.”
The poetry accompanying the portraits is inspired by the lives of the twelve Caesars. The poems unveil the legends and legacies of the ancient rulers. Human stories of temptation, love, loss, manipulation, and corruption unfold in the verse, revealing the vulnerability of these powerful leaders in their mortal condition.
The artist statement notes that the chronicle of The Twelve Caesars reveals what the late historian, political leader, and writer Lord Acton professed nearly 1,800 years after the twelve Caesars’ reign. “Power tends to corrupt… and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” These twelve Roman men, the statement concurs, “while wielding what may have been the closest anyone has ever come to absolute power,” collectively realized over the course of their lives that “any mortal who seeks to be regarded as divine in the flesh will inevitably become demonic.”
Caesars of Rome can be viewed at the Talon Gallery located in the Aspen Center on NPC’s Show Low campus through October 3. The gallery is open to the general public Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Fridays, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, visit www.npc.edu/talon-art-gallery or contact Gallery Director and NPC Art Faculty Magda Gluszek at magda.gluszek@npc.edu or call (800) 266-7845, ext. 6176.
