Ah yes, this may very well be the work of our time, of this century. The background devoid of life yet filled with light represents the hopefulness of our generation ever aspiring to prove themselves better than the classification “millennial” that has so been begrudgingly assigned to them since conception, but there is no hope, it is a futile attempt to break free the bonds of societal construct. Perhaps this could be considered a precursor to the dystopian universes having meant to occur 5 years and as far back as 36 years ago.
Off-center of the work stands a singularity not unlike that being currently researched as the basis of black hole theory. We can then take it to mean, in addition to the metaphor chosen for the background, that the focus of today’s society is being distracted, even entirely misdirected from the true purpose or role we are all meant to fulfill in life by a something with a gravity inescapable to us. The color of this singularity is blue suggesting that whatever misguided goal we all seem to seek after will be the death of us as we will each in the end lie in our deathbeds ruminating over whether we have achieved any significance over our individual lifetimes regardless of what the true answer may be.
What then is the true goal of living, of humanity if not what is currently being sought after? Once again we can look towards the work for the answer. In addition to the singularity we can see that it is contained, being restricted for in more understandable terms, within a diamond. A diamond could symbolize material wealth which something most human seek after within their lifetimes, but why is the singularity being contained within the diamond? Is the true focus of life being distorted by material wealth? In order to understand this we must also look towards the history of the diamond which shows that in actuality it has no real value, but is instead only the product of corporate monopoly by the infamous DeBeers resulting in excessive inflation of price.
This then points back to the dystopian universes previously indicated by the seering bright background with just one example of how these universes hover ever closer to our existence. Even in today’s modern society there are present increasing examples of corporate consolidation such as in retail chain stores and airlines such as Delta and Southwest.
Though perhaps we are delving too far into the sciences of macro-econonics so let’s return to our original point which was interpreting the artist’s intent in creating this work.
Finally we see that this isolative diamond containing within it the singularity is itself held in place by a fist. The top of this entire construct is ironically at the bottom in a place obvious to none which could mean that it is hiding among the working class. This fist is keeping the entire construct in place the construct being today’s society and so it must be asked what is this fist and why does it so desire to maintain such a structure seemingly beneficial to none? Well in regards to the first question, the first and most obvious answer is that it represents something similar to the iron fist symbol common during the Soviet Russia era and thus carries similar connotations as well however I am more apt to believe in the second answer which would say the fist is representing of us, of our subconscious mind desperately trying to hold on to a world which grows increasingly incomprehensible and intangible by setting clear goals and standards that must be achieved in this world when in fact the level of intelligence and civilization that our society has achieved is such that there is no demand of each any longer.
Could we take that to mean then that we as a species are not unlike the Silas character in the Da Vince Code intentionally burdening ourselves with pain and misery to the extent of near death? It is even possible to say that we long for our previous states of nature in which we possessed no sentienty.
This work raises many questions about today’s modern society indeed that yet to be answered instead being substituted for more trivial matters such as war and politics. One thing remains clear however which is humanity’s slow downward spiral into the abyss…
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