I have been fascinated by Gyzis' painting Historia ever since I first saw it. It was painted in 1892 in a period when nationalism in Europe was rampant. While the painter was influenced by his own Greek identity in his works, this particular painting appears to distance itself from the trends of its time.
The main figure "writing" history radiates strength and resolve, attempting to record on the canvas an objective view. The figure of the child, supporting and influencing the main figure's hand, seems to represent the immature but inner self of the main figure; the child that never grew up and is always present, while the child's concentration indicates that maturity (or the illusion of it) is inherent. The main figure holds a log of events and keeps both a right-angle rule (representing objective intent?) and a palette, which may represent the coloring of the historical records by the subjective perception of each individual historian.
The circle containing the scene, in my eyes, represents the cyclic course of history, which is never perceived by those dwelling inside it.
I have to admit that I didn't create this piece with the painting in mind. I wouldn't have attempted a rhythmic, house-like melody if that were the case. The connection came up to me after it was nearly complete. The circular chord progression of F#-minor, D-major, E-major and C#-minor dominates the arpeggios, which are all variations of the same one from the Yamaha MODX, even though they sound different every four measures. As they are arpeggios from the synthesizer, they remind me of the objective, right-angle rule of the main figure, within the circle of history that appears always different to those dwelling within it. The lead pluck sound from SurgeXT, with its imperfect expression, seems to be recorded by the brush that is moved by the two arms. This main lead is complemented by a vocal-like pad sound from the Korg Wavestate and another, more conventional pad from Zebra Legacy.
Most of the time I end my posts here with "I hope you like it" and add links to the main streaming services. After listening to the release more than a month since I finished it, I cannot honestly say that. I left far too many imperfections that I should have fixed just because I was thinking that leaving them would show that the piece is made by a human, in this era that everything gets labeled as "AI-slop" either because it is or because someone thinks so. I don't like the outcome and I am going to improve it and release it again. You can find this piece in all the usual streaming services but I will update this post and provide links after I release it again at some point.
A better version is on the way.