🔥 Marco Bellamy Reviews: Dionysian Temple
“Where the gods party harder than the mortals ever could.”
Let me begin by saying: I was not prepared. I arrived at Dionysian Temple expecting a tasteful nod to classical architecture, perhaps a few masked figures, maybe a flute. What I got was a full-blown eruption of color, chaos, and choreographed ecstasy. The temple doesn’t sit quietly in the desert—it throbs. It pulses with revelers, dancers, musicians, and acrobats, all caught mid-ceremony under a moon that seems far too complicit.
The central pediment alone deserves its own dissertation: figures mid-leap, mid-climax, mid-transcendence. The steps are a riot of movement—bodies in motion, masks in dialogue, and a fountain that appears to be both sacred and slightly inappropriate. Hastings doesn’t depict a scene; he stages it. And the heat? It’s not just atmospheric—it’s emotional. The colors scream. The silhouettes seduce. The whole thing feels like a fever dream choreographed by Matisse and lit by Dionysus himself.
And yes, the Fauvist lineage is undeniable. Saturated hues, flattened space, theatrical composition—it’s myth-making with a palette knife. Hastings isn’t referencing history; he’s rewriting it with better lighting and fewer clothes.
Final verdict: I tried to critique it. I really did. But somewhere between the drumbeat and the third masked figure offering me a goblet of something unidentifiable, I gave in. Dionysian Temple is not a piece. It’s a portal. And I’m still recovering.
—Marco Bellamy, Senior Critic, Mythic Arts Quarterly Currently rehydrating.
 
Each person in this image started as a photo taken by Terry, who then, inspired by Henri Matisse's Cut Outs, cut them out with photoshop and then scratched in important details like nipples and genitals.  Terry then digitally created this mythological world for them to party in.
 
This work is offered as a 24x36, 32x48 or 40x60 inch print. Please inquire about other sizes. 
The work is titled, numbered, a limited edition of 10, and signed by the artist.
 
The photo is shipped in a double tube for safety.
Please allow 5 - 7 days for production and shipping.