OF GODS, OF MONSTERS

“of Gods, of Monsters” (des Dieux, et des Monstres) is a 3D-rendered public mural conceived by Montréal-based artist Mara Eagle. This sprawling mural portrays a seascape featuring a lively cast of semi-divine humanoids and monsters leisurely floating in an oceanic reverie. Eagle sourced her imagery from Renaissance and Romantic paintings, Greek mythology, popular culture, and her own repertoire of characters from previous works. She employs the language of gaming and animation to create a buoyant fantasy exploring the liberatory potential of cyberspace and her interests in art history, science, and technology. With its pastel-hued skies reminiscent of J.M.W. Turner paintings, winged putti, gleeful dolphins, baroque excesses, and dramatic protagonists, the scene is wholly exuberant.

Beyond its celebratory tone, a reference to Théodore Géricault’s famed “Raft of the Medusa” suggests an allegorical narrative in the aftermath of a shipwreck, playing on our age of environmental anxieties. Interestingly, Géricault painted his monumental work in 1818, following the year-long global chill triggered by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia – the most powerful eruption ever recorded – which caused reverberations across the globe. The existential threat in Eagle’s own depiction is felt in the ruins and palm trees poking out of the horizon and the memento mori peppered throughout the tableau, including an hourglass, butterflies, bubbles, a snail, and the Shakespearean figure of Ophelia.

Furthermore, Eagle’s rendering responds to the Musée’s current corporate and commercial surroundings in Montréal’s underground city, with its tech startups, seductive commodity displays, and authoritative architecture. Eagle exaggerates such marketing strategies as colour psychology and dramatic body language in her compositional field to both draw attention and disrupt the viewing experience of passersby, offering an alternative to easy consumerism. The mural also includes biblical symbolism, echoing the influence of the Church in Montréal’s history, notably felt in the imposing Mary Queen of the World Cathedral, near the MAC. The religious fervour woven into the fabric of life until Modernism is still very much felt in today’s urban landscape of downtown Montreal. Eagle’s software-generated fantasy underscores the excesses of late capitalism all while offering a spellbinding alternate reality to lose oneself in. Curated by Mojeanne Behzadi.

Installation view, OF GODS, OF MONSTERS, ink jet print on vinyl, 97’ x 8.’ Presented by the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal at Place Ville Marie, April - September 2024, Montréal Québec, Canada. Photo credit: Michael Patten.