Study for a Requiem (Part I): The Attestation of a Self-Invented Myth and Legend
and Legend, 2025
Robert Craig Knievel fit immortalis Evel,
high school drop-out, marginalized misfit, petty criminal.
Vanquished son of Sparta,
last gladiator in the new Rome.
Messiah for disillusioned children of the ’70s,
cautionary words in perfected skill.
Delights in molded plasticity abound,
masculine confirmed in a doll’s galore.
A Narcissist of vanity and charisma,
a Prometheus of ambition and enterprise,
a Theseus of daring and courage,
a Heracles of bravery and epic feats.
A crowd gathers its mass,
a malicious spirit gathers its force.
A human spirit gathers its nerve, a passive machine gathers its dust.
80 mph full throttle on approach,
141 ft. of spatial indifference.
30° ramp trajectory on hypotenuse.
Galileo’s parabolic motion in curved distance,
Euclidean angles in vector displacement,
Fibonacci’s sequence in golden ratio unfolding,
Archimedes’ intuitive imagination in reasoning.
A soaring defiance of gravity
a willful defiance of fear,
a fortuitous defiance of death,
a coherent defiance of common sense.
A Hubris in the take-off,
a glorious ascent on Apollo's chariot.
A Nemesis in the landing,
a doomed descent on the wings of Icarus.
Avian grace in splendor to apex of arch,
in eerie silence to point of impact.
Nike’s presence of absence captured,
in 16mm Zampruder mystique transfixed.
Flashing in sequence like an ancient frieze,
flickering in daylight to a modulated grain.
Thirty seconds to point of stillness unsettled,
attestations from the gods of myth and legend bestowed.
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Installation view |
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| Installation view |
