“Gugalanna” (2015)
by Barbara Kacicek (1957-)
6 × 12 in., oil on linen
Coppola Collection

This composition reminded me of the reduced representational form for bulls used by Picasso. I named this piece Gugalanna.

The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the killing by Gilgamesh and Enkidu of the Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, first husband of Ereshkigal, as an act of defiance of the gods. From the earliest times, the bull was lunar in Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent moon).