I can’t seem to get rid of is the stories of the old Norse gods - Kenneth Flak over zijn voorstelling
Of Gods and Driftwood is the result of one of those nagging fascinations that you somehow can’t shake: stories, images, thoughts that follow you through childhood all the way to adult life.
In my case, one of the fascinations I can’t seem to get rid of is the stories of the old Norse gods, in particular the ones that I’ve chosen to portray in the piece. There are plenty more gods where they come from though, many of them equally fascinating. Consider for example the goddess of love, Freya, that is able to give the greatest happiness to every person on this planet, except herself. She was left by the only man she ever loved and none of her magic will ever bring him back.
I guess one of the things that keep fascinating me about these stories is that they happen in a universe where everybody, gods, humans and monsters alike, are left to their own devices, to fend for themselves the best they can with whatever resources they have at their disposal—and they do this with no compromises, and absolutely no regrets. Theirs is a very unsentimental world.
Admittedly, the gods are in a slightly better position than the humans, but even they have their worries: if they don’t keep eating Idun’s apples, they will grow old and die, just as certainly as the human beings. Indeed, one of the many stories about the gods tell about how the apples one day disappeared! Of course, Loke, the god of mischief, was involved in this, as in so many other near-disasters for the gods.
Another major issue that the gods have to deal with is Fate itself. They don’t know how and when it will happen, but they know that the world itself will come to an end, and with the world—they too will die. And no matter what they do to prevent this from happening, it seems they only bring the end a little bit closer. Even Odin, the king of gods, the creator of the known universe, is powerless against the wheels of history to come.
The whole process of creating Of Gods and Driftwood begun with Odin. He is god of both wisdom and war- at the same time.
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