Atlas Pendant: silver, copper, ocean jasper, and amethyst. 1.5"x2"x1/4" / 38mmx51mmx6mm. fused and carved silver. Tube set amethyst. This work was inspired by this slab I processed. When I got to the final polish it looked like a map to me, so I wanted to work it into an idea I have had about using Atlas as a metaphor. If you decide to look up the mythology of Atlas you will find many different versions of his story. Basically he was tricked into holding up the foundations of reality, the illusion of reality that we know through our senses. In a pop culture definition set up by the movie, The Matrix, Atlas would be the grid or code that the matrix is written on. Here, as in ancient mythology, the grid is metaphorically represented as a man. Science fiction, as in all pop ideas, are never "new." They all just relate these ancient ideas in new stories depending on the current culture. These ideals, as explored by Homer, Plato, and probably go back even further than these philosophers, all make much more sense than the biblical explanations of how this reality works, (to me). "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one;" Albert Einstein. "I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal;" Groucho Marx.