Welcome to the Here be Dragons Gallery. The aim of this gallery is to start a revolution in the modern fine art world to bring back the dragons. Dragons have been depicted in counties around the world from the beginning and often symbolized strength and power. Dragons have been prevalent in art since the Sumerians first used written language. The first known writings, the Sumerian tablets, often focus on their gods and included the first stories of dragon slaying. One of their gods was Zur; Zur was often depicted as a dragon or riding a dragon. Around the same time in China the Neolithic people were creating pig-dragons carved from Jade. Artists since then have depicted dragons in arguably every type of medium to date. No one knows for sure what first inspired such widespread dragon themes but religion played a large part in keeping them alive in fine art throughout history. While historical art depicting dragons is considered fine art, the more modern representations of dragons today are classed as Fantasy art, a term that is mostly considered derogatory when compared to fine art. I suggest we start changing the dragon’s second class status by celebrating the many depictions of dragons throughout the world, and throughout history. Let’s remind the critics of the importance of dragons as a large part of fine art, art with deeper meanings.
