The Dark and Backward Abysm of time

Description

36″ x 48″-Oil on canvas (framed)

The scene is Sisiphian, although he could represent Ariel. the protagonist carrying the rock which he has been charged to carry endlessly up a hill, only to have it appear at the foot again.

The theme is the labors the artist has to undertake to sustain himself. His attentions are diverted by a large screen, in this case displaying a representation of the artist-Kirk Douglas in a heroic role as Van Gogh. This is a falsehood, a promise that there is some reward and honor in the task. He is a portrayal,the godfather of modern art, its pauper and champion messiah, crucified and venerated pothsumously. His gaze is the reptilian eye which conveys and enslaves.
The rock on his back is supported by a rusted anchor,it resembles the crucifix and echoes Christ carrying the cross on his back. It is framed by a sharks jaws, a savage mouth of serrated teeth enclosing a clock. The timepiece is the Cosmic clock by Walter Russell which is an itergrar of elemental units of measure, from space, time, sex, temperature, seasons, plantery alignments. etc. and there connections upon the consciousness and mans place in the universe. It is a fabrication of both relevance and insignificance, and is the burden by which mankind has quantified itself.

He paces eternally on a streets treadmill, pounding the pavements whilst a black dog nips at his heels. His legs are cast in irons, echoing the helmet of Caliban and the dormant ships in the background. Feathers are tied at his ankles, but he isn’t Mercury he is an approximation based on the symbolic hope of commercial success. At the foot of the silver screen are snails, echoing and mocking the scene, insular crustaceons from before man, lying in the shadows waiting for rain.
Beyond the scene, a clandestine brotherhood forms a single mass, insidiously connected and surrounding a bonfire of burning books. They are the spark that propels the rocket spiraling above, an act of destruction feuled by creativity. It is a paradox of society and progress, a rocket reaching for unchartered heavens at a cost. In the light, hides the outline of a extraterrestrial being, an avatar of untold forces and hidden agendas.
The underlying message is one of creation harnessed for nefarious ends.

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