Taming the Minotaur
2024, Animal hide, wood, paint, cord, metal brackets, wheels, 230 x 200 x 50 cm
Robert PLATT
Adinkra graphs courtesy of Sylvester James Gates & Greg Landweber
2024, Animal hide, wood, paint, cord, metal brackets, wheels, 230 x 200 x 50 cm
Robert PLATT
Adinkra graphs courtesy of Sylvester James Gates & Greg Landweber
About the Artwork:
From ancient civilizations to modern times, cultures have created apotropaic art—artworks imbued with the power to ward off evil forces. “Taming the Minotaur” reinvents this tradition for the 21st century. Robert Platt’s monumental double-sided work, rendered on animal hide, offers a visceral intersection between myth, science, and humanity’s fractured relationship with nature.
At its core, this piece serves as both a shield and a reflection, drawing from a vast web of pattern-making traditions: prehistoric cave drawings, Greek mythology, Medieval tapestries, particle physics, and the neuroscience of perception. By weaving these diverse references, Platt conjures a visual language that speaks to our primal fears and our longing for control over the chaotic forces that shape our world.
The front of the piece features an intricate Adinkra-inspired labyrinth, meticulously shaved into the animal’s hair—a symbolic “trap” for the Minotaur, the archetypal beast of chaos. On the reverse, organic, plant-like forms are painted onto the suede, representing nature’s fluid resilience in contrast to the rigid structure of the labyrinth. This duality reflects the push and pull between human desire to dominate nature and our inevitable return to it.
From ancient civilizations to modern times, cultures have created apotropaic art—artworks imbued with the power to ward off evil forces. “Taming the Minotaur” reinvents this tradition for the 21st century. Robert Platt’s monumental double-sided work, rendered on animal hide, offers a visceral intersection between myth, science, and humanity’s fractured relationship with nature.
At its core, this piece serves as both a shield and a reflection, drawing from a vast web of pattern-making traditions: prehistoric cave drawings, Greek mythology, Medieval tapestries, particle physics, and the neuroscience of perception. By weaving these diverse references, Platt conjures a visual language that speaks to our primal fears and our longing for control over the chaotic forces that shape our world.
The front of the piece features an intricate Adinkra-inspired labyrinth, meticulously shaved into the animal’s hair—a symbolic “trap” for the Minotaur, the archetypal beast of chaos. On the reverse, organic, plant-like forms are painted onto the suede, representing nature’s fluid resilience in contrast to the rigid structure of the labyrinth. This duality reflects the push and pull between human desire to dominate nature and our inevitable return to it.
Robert PLATT
Robert Platt is a transmedia artist with a diverse background in the arts. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, he completed his Practice-Based PhD at Kyoto City University of Arts. Platt’s practice has been featured in Art in America and Frieze magazine, and he has participated in residencies and research trips to India, Japan, Europe, and taken part in two Arctic expeditions. His artworks have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, with recent solo exhibitions in Japan, Ireland, South Korea, and New York. His works are included in the public collections of Toyota, and Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo. Platt is currently Professor at the School of Art & Design at Kyushu Sangyo University.
Robert Platt is a transmedia artist with a diverse background in the arts. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, he completed his Practice-Based PhD at Kyoto City University of Arts. Platt’s practice has been featured in Art in America and Frieze magazine, and he has participated in residencies and research trips to India, Japan, Europe, and taken part in two Arctic expeditions. His artworks have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, with recent solo exhibitions in Japan, Ireland, South Korea, and New York. His works are included in the public collections of Toyota, and Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo. Platt is currently Professor at the School of Art & Design at Kyushu Sangyo University.
Sylvester James GATES Jr
Sylvester James “Jim” Gates, Jr. is a world-renowned theoretical physicist, best known for his work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory. He has served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and in 2013, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the first African-American theoretical physicist so recognized in its 150-year history. President Obama awarded Prof. Gates the National Medal of Science at a White House ceremony in 2013. Author of more than 200 research paper, he is currently the Brown Theoretical Physics Center Director, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics, and Affiliate Mathematics Professor at Brown University.
Sylvester James “Jim” Gates, Jr. is a world-renowned theoretical physicist, best known for his work on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory. He has served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and in 2013, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the first African-American theoretical physicist so recognized in its 150-year history. President Obama awarded Prof. Gates the National Medal of Science at a White House ceremony in 2013. Author of more than 200 research paper, he is currently the Brown Theoretical Physics Center Director, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics, and Affiliate Mathematics Professor at Brown University.
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