James Surls, The Splendora Years

"In Me, the Dragon and the Sword, a three legged creature grows a grotesque dragon head topped with a giant horn. Its single hand holds a sword which replicates a second sword running through its head. Surls notes that while the dragon is a fairly universal symbol, it has different associations in European and Asian cultures. In the latter it tends to be a beneficent figure, while in the former it embodies the forces of evil. In Surls's version, the dragon is the self, so that the act of killing it suggests the idea of killing the beast within."

-Eleanor Heartney, from Splendora: A Love Story in the publication "James Surls: The Splendora Years, 1977-1997."


	Me, the Dragon and the Sword 1982 Live oak, maple 73 x 29.5 x 34 in 185.4 x 74.9 x 86.4 cm Collection Memphis Brooks Museum, Memphis, Tennessee "In Me, the Dragon and the Sword, a three legged creature grows a grotesque dragon head topped with a giant horn. Its single hand holds a sword which replicates a second sword running through its head. Surls notes that while the dragon is a fairly universal symbol, it has different associations in European and Asian cultures. In the latter it tends to be a beneficent figure, while in the former it embodies the forces of evil. In Surls's version, the dragon is the self, so that the act of killing it suggests the idea of killing the beast within." -Eleanor Heartney, from Splendora: A Love Story in the publication "James Surls: The Splendora Years, 1977-1997."