Dionysus, aka Bacchus, was the god of wine and fertility who came to Greece around 600 BC. Apparently, the Dionysus cult was introduced into Greece from two different directions. The cult that came from the east, Asia Minor, saw Dionysus as the god of fertility, emphasizing masks and phallic symbols. His myth included satyrs, sileni and other nature spirits. The other Dionysus cult came from the north, Thrace. There Dionysus was the god of intoxication, symbolizing ecstatic freedom. He was celebrated through drunken orgia. The cult also included the rite of omophagia, where live animals, even bulls, were torn to pieces and eaten. The cults integrated with each other, at least partly. During the Hellenistic period, the Dionysian orgia dominated by ecstatic exaltation gradually turned into mysteries that the Romans called Bacchanalia.
Later Friedrich Nietzsche described the Dionysian experience as a form of artistic experience. The Dionysian experience is comprehensively exciting and associated with objectless eroticism. The importance of eroticism for a human was also emphasized by Sigmund Freud, naming the human life instinct Eros.
When I paint, my aim is to get as close to the Dionysian wild force and ecstasy as possible. In my figurative works, I tackle comic-like elements by dipping them into the organic abundance of Baroque painting. My aim is to use surrealist techniques to make part of my painting experience available to the viewers.
Tapio Tuominen
+358 (0)50 305 2816
tapiotuominen(at)elisanet.fi
