Material:
Acrylic on canvas

Year:
2008

Artist Statement:
”Astolfo To The Moon”
Inspired by the 16th century Italian epic poem, Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto, the painting is a reinterpretation on the poem passages where the paladin, Orlando, has gone mad with despair after the death and eventual love betrayal of his love - the pagan princess, Angelica. In hopes of recovering his sanity, Orlando rides on fiery chariot to the Moon, where everything believed to be lost on the Earth is found, including Orlando’s sanity.

Can what wonders found on the Moon really provide one salvation?
Maybe what is recovered and renewed on the Moon in itself is one’s salvation?

‘Twere infinite to tell what wondrous things
He saw that passed ours not few degrees,
What towns, what hills, what rivers, and what springs,
What dales, what palaces, what goodly trees.

- Orlando Furioso: Journey to the Moon