I worked on a painting for 8 years. I called it Prometheus Unbound, which is also the title of a lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It tells of Prometheus resolve not to reconcile with his authoritarian ruler Jupiter and in the end he is released from his suffering through the power of love.
The story is so relevant to what we are all doing in web3, working with new technology against many odds while strengthened by our passion and determination and supported with love from the community.
I used this painting as the basis for this digital animation. Technology frees us and gives us the tools we need in our struggle to defy authorities of all kinds, whether in finance or in art, and in the end it is love that helps us overcome all challenges.
In the words of Demogorgon in the epilogue of Shelly’s Prometheus Unbound:
“To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory.”
