MATT KULISCH

“Arcturus, The Guard” – in the role of Arcturus: Joshua – archived by Matt Kulisch. Cover: Arcturus Baptizes the Solar System.

“These pictures were named for one of the brightest stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere, Arcturus, a red giant of the constellation Boötes (the herdsman). Its etymological origins draw from spear craft, war horns, even farming—but Ptolemy lay the celestial body between the thighs of its mythological counterpart, Arcas; the would-be sacrifice of his father, King Lycaon, and the would-be killer of his mother, Callisto. Zeus twice saved Arcus from his fate, first pulling him from a cooking fire and later placing him up in the heavens as Usra Minor. Satellite astrometry suggests that Arcturus is a binary star, with a companion about twenty times dimmer than its primary and orbiting close enough to be at the very limits of humans’ current ability to apprehend. When a model, or fellow artist—and Joshua is certainly both—taps into something seraphic, they appear to me less as something the sunlight falls upon and more a source of light in and of themselves. Naming Josh for a star, in this set, seemed more than appropriate: his skin glows, reflects, even appears to generate light itself.” – Matt