After Phaeton 2013

For Whiten, glass isn’t just a sculptural medium—it is a transcendental material, capable of transmitting light in varying degrees as if facilitating passage between two worlds. After Phaeton, the artist’s luminous two-wheeled chariot, is constructed of crystal-sandblasted glass and adorned with brass fittings. Whiten reduced the size of the chariot twice before arriving at a solution that would allow the weight of the carriage to be supported by the axle yet ensure that the vehicle remained human scale. A slender disk mounted at the top represents the sun. Sandwiched between layers of crystal-clear glass, the colours in the disk—orange, green, purple, blue—appear and disappear according to the light and the perspective of the viewer, paralleling our perception of the sun. Decorative patterns of wings embellish the surface of the chariot, pictorially conveying a sense of movement. A signature rose appears above the lanyard, just beneath the sun.

In Greek mythology, Phaeton (Phaëthon) is the son of Helios, god of the sun, and a nymph/woman believed to be named Clymene; as such, he is half mortal and half divine.  According to Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Books I–II, desiring to prove his divine paternity, the young Phaeton begged to drive his father’s chariot of the sun through the heavens for a single day. Helios eventually conceded, but Phaeton was unable to command the immortal steeds and the chariot veered out of control. Coming too close to the earth, he scorched it. To avoid further damage, Zeus hurled a thunderbolt at Phaeton, killing him.

Greek and Roman mythological subjects were common in Renaissance painting, as illustrated by The Fall of Phaeton, c.1604/1605, by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).  Operating outside the canon of Western art history, Whiten’s interpretation reveals an empty chariot; in the absence of figurative rendering, the viewer is implicated, as if a character in this narrative.  In this classic Greek myth, the son of Helios was not ready to drive his father’s chariot; like Paul, the young boy in D.H. Lawrence’s story that inspired Lucky, Lucky, Lucky, 2010, Phaeton was unable to harness the magical forces at hand. Like Clycieun, 1991, Whiten’s attenuated unicycle, After Phaeton points to our blind ambition to reach a higher order without the proper preparation and sacrifice this journey toward illumination entails.