HER Space, HER Odyssey

Re-imagining the damaging trope of the lonely, single woman who pursues a married man, I paint Circe, the Sirens and Calypso from Greek Mythology. 

All three are beautiful, unmarried goddesses exiled to spend their days alone on their respective Greek islands. Each has the power and desire to enchant a man and hold him captive as their love slave. 

Homer must have enjoyed this fantasy because he repeated this scenario three times in The Odyssey; the epic poem chronicling Odysseus’ ten-year journey home from the Trojan War to his clever and loyal wife Penelope. Penelope, a mortal woman, deserves her own Goddess portrait of recognition for the clever strategies she uses to stall the relentless barrage of suitors who show up to take his place and rule Ithaca, should Odysseus not return home. 

 

My triptych, HER Space, HER Odyssey, began as a single painting re-imagining Circe’s story.

Circe Happy Sol-O
Judy Takács
oil on canvas with gold leaf

Circe Happy Sol-O

As the story goes, the Goddess Circe, exiled to her desolate Greek Isle with only her animals for company, falls in love with Odysseus when his ship stumbles upon her shores. She invites him and his crew for a lavish banquet she conjures up. Odysseus’ men behave like pigs in the face of this generosity, so Circe turns them into pigs. Without a working crew of men, Odysseus is forced to stay with Circe, who is so smitten she enchants him to be her defenseless lover…for seven long years!

 

My Circe uses no such tricks to seduce an unwilling married man and happily sends him on his way, keeping only a couple piglets as pets. She’s happy with her own company and her own space.

 

Circe Happy Sol-O showed as part of the Valley Art Center’s 52^nd Annual Juried Exhibition in 2023 and caught the attention of Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate, Siaara Freeman. At the VAC's signature Ekphrastacy event, Siaara composed and performed a jaw-dropping poem, wriggling with passion, pain and triumph…inspired by my painting. 

 

I was thrilled to discover that Siaara was also a scholar and critic of Greek Mythology…a kindred spirit. Even better, she accepted my proposal to pose for the Goddess Project, where I re-imagine the mythology of all the religions through a contemporary feminist lens.. 

 

Because of her mermaid persona as Lake Erie Siren, my initial idea was to cast her as Tethys Oceanus, the Titan Goddess of Sea and Fresh Water…as part of the 12 Titan Goddess series I’m currently recruiting for. Siaara far exceeded my expectations with loads of inspiration, fascinating characters and stories I hadn’t even considered. Further research led to two more paintings in the triptych I call, HER Space, HER Odyssey.

Sirens Silent for O
Judy Takács
oil on canvas with gold leaf

Sirens Silent for O

Among the many monsters Homer casts in Odysseus’ path, the most alluring are the Sirens; evil bird/mermaid goddesses who, like Circe, also inhabit a desolate Greek island. They sing piercing and irresistible songs to lure sailors to their shores.

 

The Siren’s rocky shores wreck ships and the men who survive remain captives, never to be rescued. Sailors who search for them meet a similar fate. 

 

Odysseus is clever though, and curious. He wants to hear the Siren’s song…without the inevitable shipwreck. He concocts a plan where his men block their own ears with cotton to navigate the waters undistracted. They then strap Odysseus to the mast, with his strict orders not to untie him no matter how he begs and pleads.

 

My Sirens, however, are tired of clearing shipwreck rubble and have no need for clumsy sailors. They admonish each other to stay quiet until Odysseus’ ship passes. 

Calypso Says So Long O
Judy Takács
oil on canvas with gold leaf

Calypso Says So Long O

Calypso’s mythological story, like Circe’s, tells of her desperate love for married Odysseus, Calypso also keeps him captive on her desolate island. Apparently though, in the pantheon of Greek Gods, it’s unfitting for a Goddess to keep a mortal man as her lover, (a male God with a mortal woman as his lover, concubine or rape victim is fine though…) The Gods convince Goddess Calypso to give Odysseus hammer, wood and nails to build himself a ship and be on his way.  My Calypso, a take-charge woman, is only too happy to do that…so happy in fact, that she builds the boat herself, carving her own golden image as figurehead, to send him swiftly on his way.

 

I was honored that Siaara Freeman, Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate, agreed to pose twice as Calypso; the Goddess herself and her carved image too. Art and Life came together beautifully as they often do!

 

I’m also thrilled that Calypso Says So Long O was accepted to…

 

The Valley Art Center
53^rd Annual Juried Exhibition

Opening Reception: 

Friday night, November 8, 5:00 to 8:00pm

Sensory Friendly Quiet Hour: 5:00 to 6:00. 

Awards at 7:00 pm

 

Ekphrastacy Poetry Reading: Not to be missed!

Thursday Night, December 5th, 

Doors open at 6:30

Poetry Begins at 7:00 pm

 

Show continues through December 16^th

 

Valley Art Center

155 Bell Street

Chagrin Falls, Ohio

 

 

A Tale of Two Titles

 In keeping with The Goddess Project theme of re-examining the mythology of all the religions, I painted the Necessary Evil triptych. It features two wise older women playing the roles of God and the Devil, in bathrobes, chatting over cups of endless coffee. Reminiscent of my own girls weekends where we begin with breakfast and talk nonstop into the lazy hours of the afternoon, these old friends strategize ways to fix the ills of the world. Read more about the triptych here.

All three panels of the Necessary Evil Triptych were on display in giclee format at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport for almost 6 months without a blip on the radar.

 

The Necessary Evil Triptych showed for 3 months in 2022 at the May Show at Lakeland. 

I told the world what it was about when I featured it on Living Figuratively!

I even sported my devilish horns and mustered Star Trek-inspired acting ability to rival that of William Shatner!

Nary a peep there either.

 

In July 2023, it was displayed again at the Ashtabula Arts Center as part of my solo show, The Goddess Project: Warriors.

This third showing was very different.

There’s a metaphor of how a single mosquito can wreak quite a bit of havoc under the covers in a dark bedroom. 

In Ashtabula, there was one very vocal and busy mosquito who worked very hard to let everyone know she was offended by the Necessary Evil Triptych, along with much of my work in the show. Whether it was boobs, blasphemy, bodily autonomy, or all three, she thought my paintings were not suitable for children coming to the center for art camps and music lessons. Never mind that most kids nowadays have access to all that the boobs, blasphemy, bodily autonomy and more that the internet and social media offers. 

 

I have to be flattered though, at how extensively she researched my work . She watched my Living Figuratively videos and quoted specific time markers where I got a Judeo-Christian bible story or character all wrong. The Greek myths I busted were only offensive because of the breasts. She researched my past work and lampooned the irreverence of my Chicks with Balls Project…not recognizing that she herself might also be a Chick with Balls; boldly speaking out and doing what she feels is best to protect her children. Quite a few of the women who posed for the Chicks project were deeply faithful, some were Pro-Life Christians.  They all connected with the female empowerment aspect of the project though.

 

This lone dissenter embarked upon an extensive email campaign, sending numerous, detailed, well-written and lengthy correspondences. She enlisted her pastor and friends to join in this effort.

 

She even started a well-designed website, featuring me and my work as the villain in the Ashtabula Art scene. There was even an online petition to sign!

 

A woman after my own heart, this very active activist, also wrote letters to the editor of the local paper about my offensive show, and how it should be permanently removed from the art center. 

 

She got her wish because my show was scheduled to close July 29 anyway. I brought the work home. It was never intended as a permanent installation. 

 

As much trouble as her campaign was…for the Art Center especially…I was definitely honored how intensely my work moved her! The worst thing an artist can suffer is to be ignored. She studied my work way more than people who actually like it! And, to her credit, she is an educated and well-spoken person who writes well. Unlike many of her compatriots in policing liberal ideas, she knows the difference between their, they’re and there…and also your and you're.

 

Perhaps this woman is my Type A, Virgo, doppelganger…though, as I've seen with doppelgangers in movies and books, it’s probably best if we never meet.

 

With the Necessary Evil Triptych home safe and sound, it was now mine to decided where she should be submitted next. 

 

My doppelganger made me wonder, is the painting really so evil…or is it just the title? I’ve had people of faith tell me they loved it because it brings God to their kitchen table, as a kind-hearted loving entity…literally warm and fuzzy in bathrobes! Fans have also enjoyed the wise grandmotherly female energy it conveys. And truly, I’m not starting a religion, or presenting icons to be worshipped, I’m just offering a different perspective to ponder. What if we saw our deities and creators as kindly old women…would there be less fire, brimstone, vengeance and violence in the world? Women are really all about creating stuff, not so much destroying it. 

The painting really isn't about evil at all. Necessary Evil needed a new name.

In my quest to find a new name for the painting I turned to the Bible, where I remembered verses about loving your enemy. I've always believed that if you’re looking for something in the bible…reasons to do evil, or reasons to do good…you will find it. 

Jesus came through for me with just the right quote in Matthew 5:44.

 

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

 

It was a perfect metaphor for the painting…God and the Devil sitting down together in peace; God literally doing the hard work of loving your enemy.

 

It was also a great metaphor for me and my doppelganger…though, like I said, I’d prefer never to meet.

 

The Necessary Evil triptych now has a new name; Matthew 5:44. I submitted the center panel to a wholesome and prestigious art show I submit to every year, in the very conservative deep south. 

 

I’m thrilled to say, Matthew 5:44 was accepted to Southwest Artists, Art of the Heartland show at the Mena Gallery in Arkansas…and, that she won the First Place Prize! 

Empowered by this sweet and calculated triumph of Good over Evil…I took a second look at the left and right panels of my triptych. 

It is no accident that they work so well together…I design all my dyptychs and triptychs to work independently or in alternate arrangements. They are also for sale as singles. 

I gave this diptych a new name, Matthew 5:44, The Holy Grail…Loving your enemy being the possibly unatainable holy grail. 

I entered her into the Annual National Juried Exhibition at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art. The WMOCA is a miracle of a museum, focusing on contemporary figurative realism. Masterminded by Museum Director, David Hummer, WMOCA proudly sits in the historic downtown of sweet, creative, welcoming and conservative Wausau, Wisconsin. 

Lo and Behold, she came through for me again! Matthew 5:44, The Holy Grail, was awarded Second Place by Museum Director, David Hummer…and I couldn't be more thrilled! I attended the jam packed Opening Reception with my honey and was honored to be part of such a prestigious National Show!

So, if that’s not incentive to love my enemies and pray for them, I’m not sure what is! 

 

Seventh Annual National Juried Exhibition

Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art

309 McClellan Street

Wausau, Wisconsin

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11:00 to 3:00

wmoca.org

Seventh Annual National Juried Exhibition 
continues through December 30th.

Your Body, Your Decision

My Body, My Decision
Judy Takács
oil on canvas with collage

With her classic visage, my model reminded me of Michelangelo's monolithic David statue. His curly locks, sweeping eyelashes and smooth marble body are powerful, muscular and androgynous.

David
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze

It is notable that iconic, idealized male sculptures have all their limbs intact…unlike poor iconic Venus De Milo.

Venus De Milo
Alexandros of Antioch
Louvre, Paris

In the Judeo-Christian bible, David, a small but confident boy, bravely conquers the giant, Goliath, who has been terrorizing his city.

To re-imagine this story through a feminist lens, I cast my female model in Michelangelo’s David pose. A female underdog, she is poised to take down the patriarchy, as symbolized by the American flag, armed with a coat hanger that bears a message.

 

Patriarchal rule has, for eons, oppressed a woman’s right to education, equality, ownership, custody and even the right to make healthcare and reproductive decisions about her own body. 

 

Currently, heartbeat bills, gag orders, threats to defund Planned 

Parenthood, and a conservative majority Supreme Court which struck down Roe v. Wade, June 24, 2022… have taken the right to make this life-altering and very private reproductive healthcare decision away from women in Ohio and much of the nation.

 

To make our voices heard in Ohio, pro-choice activists hang coat-hangers, gruesome reminders of pre-Roe v.Wade back-alley abortions, on the fence surrounding the Ohio Statehouse.

 

I added bright pink laminated messages to the ones I hung.

“You’ll never stop abortions, just safe ones,” “Someone you love has had an abortion,” “Google Geri Santoro”, and an attempt to reach across the aisle with my pink hanger messages, “Ayn Rand was Pro-Choice.” Love her or hate her, she was Pro-Choice.

 

I also pointed out that, “A dead body has more bodily autonomy than a living woman.” As a human being, you have the right to decide whether or not to donate a kidney, bone marrow, platelets, blood or tissue. No court in the land can force you to, even if someone will die without it. 

That right extends to your cadaver. No court in the land can force your dead body to donate a cornea, a heart, liver, lungs, kidneys…even though people will die without them. The tissue and organs from your dead body can actually help or save 58 different people!

 

And, yet, a living woman’s whole body can be forced into service, 

mental and physical, sometimes risking her health and life, for nine months to a lifetime…in a land without reproductive freedom. 

 

A living woman does not even have the bodily autonomy of a corpse.

 

I am pro-abortion, just like I’m pro-appendectomy, pro-mastectomy, pro-gall bladder surgery. I’d rather not have any of these surgeries, but they must be safe and available if you or I or someone you love needs one. 

 

It's not all bad though. Right now, in Ohio we have hope. ISSUE ONE, The Reproductive Rights Amendment, is on the ballot for this November. You can read the full text of the amendment here, donate what you can and VOTE YES on ISSUE ONE before November 7^th!

 

Trust Women.

Trust Women
Judy Takács
oil on canvas with collage

It's not all bad though. Right now, My Body, My Decision, Trust Women and my other Pro Choice paintings are on view at Chagrin Arts as part of my solo show designed to reach across the aisle to those who are Pro Life.

The show asks viewers to  see that the fingers of anti-abortion legislation will, at some point hurt someone you love in ways you hadn't considered. It is my hope that Ohio viewers will come from the show and decide to 
VOTE YES on ISSUE ONE this November.

Mothers, Women, Children, Choices

Chagrin Arts
88 North Main Street
Chagrin Falls, Ohio
chagrinarts.org

Gallery Hours: M W F 11:00 to 4:00
Show continues through November 17, 2023

 

Necessary Evil…a Triptych…showing at 12th Annual May Show at Lakeland

Necessary Evil Triptych
Judy Takács

There’s an episode of Star Trek where the transporter malfunctions and splits you into two versions of yourself during the beaming up process.  One of you is all good and the other one is all bad.

 

Thanks to filtered vs. stark lighting effects, melodious vs. bravura fight music and of course William Shatner’s razor-sharp acting skills…he can pivot on a dime between tortured closeups and the charming eye twinkle… we very quickly figure out which Captain Kirk is good and who is the evil twin. 

 

It takes the whole episode, however, to learn the true moral of this episode; that, in order to be a fully effective captain of a starship, one needs to embrace their good and evil sides; to temper kindness with strength, to temper nuanced deliberation with decisiveness, to temper heart with balls. 

 

The same balance between good and evil is also imperative for the characters from the Judeo-Christian Bible who many believe rule and shape our world. 

In the Judeo-Christian bible, the Devil began in heaven as an angel. He tried to organize a coup, which obviously angers God, who thrusts him out of heaven…Lucifer, the fallen angel. In the bible, God doesn’t actually put Lucifer in charge of Hell, but the piggy-back mythology surrounding fun-to-hate, fear and illustrate Satan, grew exponentially with the coming millennia.  The Devil’s job title grew closer to that of Hades, Lord of the underworld in Greek Mythology. Art, literature, politics, religion and power put Satan in charge of Hell as its evil ruler…pitchfork, fire and brimstone at the ready to punish you for eternity for your sins. 

 

Satan is pure evil. God is pure good…or is that mythology too? 

 

My conjecture is that without the threat of punishment, Gods admonishments to behave can fall on deaf ears…not all of us are good just “for goodness sake”…as the atheist and agnostic mantra goes.

 

It’s like a town without a police department. Judge and Jury with no executioner.

Necessary Evil, center panel
Judy Takács

 

The Necessary Evil Triptych is the latest painting from The Goddess Project, where I re-imagine the characters from the mythology of all the religions through a contemporary and analytical feminist lens.

My conjecture is that Satan does God’s dirty work. Though in the Old Testament God does plenty of His own dirty work…sending plagues, floods, obliteration, torture, mass killings of adult sinners and innocent infants alike…destruction to punish those who don’t obey the myriad list of rules He has set forth…don’t kill each other, don’t steal, don’t eat shrimp…

 

And, in punishing the guilty, the devil is actually doing the tough and thankless job of meting out justice…which, as citizens of the United States, we hold dear as a very good thing indeed.

 

The Devil is Bad Cop to God’s Good Cop.

 

God is Judge and Jury, the Devil is Executioner.

 

Rewards, as well as consequences are necessary to live in a fair and just society.

 

The branches of justice work together.

 

I have re-imagined God and Devil as old friends…as women…getting together for a long and soulful breakfast chat (in bathrobes with endless coffee) about what the heck they should do to fix the world. 

 

Brainstorming ideas, they have at their disposal, plagues, locusts, frogs, apples of temptation. 

 

God has brought a holy grail…but it is tipped implying that perfection on earth will never be achieved…perfection IS the holy grail.

Necessary Evil, left panel
Judy Takács

 

Necessary Evil, right panel
Judy Takács

Satan’s former angel wings are disheveled and torn, but she still wears them. 

 

The cheeky devil, a twinkle in her eye, tries on the halo for size.  She ultimately passes it back to God to wear. God chuckles at this, but also recognizes the irony.

 

This painting revisits the theme that when wise women put their heads together, much can be achieved, heaven and earth can be moved. I don’t actually believe that the devil or Hell…or Heaven for that matter…actually exist, which is why I have presented this concept in a playful manner. As for the existence of God? That’s a personal and complex belief system that I don’t peddle and appreciate when others don’t peddle theirs to me. I tell people I’m a freethinker who believes in peace, love and respect.

 

I also believe in the power of women to save the world…we can, we have, we will, and we will again…and again!

Thrilled to let you know that the Necessary Evil Triptych
has been juried into the 12th Annual May Show at Lakeland.
Organized each year by Gallery Director Extraordinaire, Mary Urbas,
this year it was Juried by Janet Bloch,
of the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, Indiana.

It's a fabulous show that you can definitely spend a
good couple hours walking through.
Generous gallery hours!
M-F 9:00 to 9:00 Saturday 9:00 to 5:00
Closed Sundays, Memorial Day, May 31 and July 4th

Open now, the show continues through July 15th at:

Lakeland Community College

7700 Clocktower Drive

Kirtland, Ohio

The Goddess Project: Innocents…at Chagrin Arts…Opens Sunday March 6th

Persephone Kept, In the Winter
Judy Takács
oil on canvas

My first solo show in two years, opens at Chagrin Arts, Sunday March 6^th with a reception from 2:00 to 4:00

More than four years in the making, The Goddess Project is my new series where I re-imagine characters and stories from the mythology of all the religions through a contemporary feminist lens. 

My solo show in the beautifully renovated Chagrin Arts gallery space right on Main Street in Chagrin Falls, is a collaboration with the Ohio Innocence Project which advocates for and fights to free those who have been wrongfully incarcerated. I will be showing a selection of paintings of Goddesses and women from mythology, who have been wrongfully accused, unfairly punished and held captive. Through my feminist lens, these heroines ultimately prevail. 

For years now, Chagrin Arts has allied itself with the Ohio Innocence Project, a legal team whose mission is to fight for and free those who have been wrongfully incarcerated, sometimes for decades. They also work to fix the legal systems that convict the innocent. On March 20^th I will participate in a panel discussion with the Women of the Ohio Innocence Project…true Goddesses themselves.

The March 6th Opening Reception will also be the book launch for my Goddess Project Book, which tells the stories behind all the paintings in the Goddess Project.

72 pages, 55 full color images, $50. I’d love to sign one for you or a special Goddess you know.

Show continues through June 12th

The Goddess Project: Innocents

Opening Reception, Sunday, March 6^th 2:00 to 4:00 

Chagrin Arts

88 North Main Street, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022

440 247 9700

RSVP requested here.

 

 

The Goddess Project: Innocents
A Panel Discussion with artist Judy Takács and Women of the Ohio Innocence Project

Sunday, March 20, 2:00-3:00, 

Chagrin Falls Town Hall, 83 North Main Street, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 

Gallery viewing right across the street at Chagrin Arts follows at 3:00 to 4:00

RSVP requested here.

The Goddess Sphynx

The Goddess Sphynx
oil on canvas

This painting is from my Goddess Project, where I re-imagine the familiar and iconic characters from the mythology and stories of all religions through a contemporary feminist lens.

In Ancient Egyptian Lore, the Sphynx was a male character; an honorable and wise guardian of the tombs, part lion, part man. The earliest and most iconic image is the Great Sphynx of Giza, guarding the pyramids, created around 2500 BC.  

Over the next thousand years, with conquests and cultural appropriation, the Greeks ended up with their own version of the Sphynx, an evil and tricky one with wings and a tail…who was also now a female character.

She was the one who asked the famous riddle you had to answer in order to pass into Thebes. What walks on four legs in the morning, 2 legs at noon and 3 legs at sundown?

If you didn’t guess the right answer, she would throw you off the cliffs to your death.

So, as a male icon, she was a good, wise and powerful guardian of the tombs, but as a female icon she became tricky and conniving…Got it!

This is the myth that I want to bust with The Goddess Sphynx from my Goddess Project.

My Sphynx is still a woman…a Goddess no less, but I wanted to return her goodness and her wisdom, and keep her powerful.

I chose the perfect model…Shannon, a woman who had posed for my Chicks with Balls project a number of years ago.

Shannon, who now proudly and happily lives her life as a woman, was born into the body of a man. It took almost 40 years of an incredibly difficult life journey for this to be corrected, and I write about her story in my Second Chicks with Balls book when she volunteered to pose for my Chicks with Balls project in 2014.

Shannon was indulgent and beautiful when she posed for me as the all-knowing, all wise, all powerful…now female…Goddess Sphynx.

The quill pen, an ancient book of the ages, and the iconic stone image of the Egyptian Sphynx guarding the pyramids at Giza all drive the point home that she is wise and good and she is a woman.

The Goddess Sphynx is showing for just one more week at the May Show at Lakeland College, only through July 9th. Be sure to stop by and see the fabulous company she keeps in this show, juried by Jae and Wadsworth Jarrell, founders of the AfriCOBRA art movement in the 1960s. 

Watch when I took Living Figuratively to the May Show at Lakeland…below.

One more thing…if you've been thinking about the riddle, here's the answer…its a baby who grows into an adult. Crawling on four legs in the morning, walking on two legs at noon and 3 legs, with a cane as the sun sets on their life!