Original artwork description:

"Not quite knowing how they got here, Humanity mans the machine day in and day out; going in the same direction without stopping, never realising it's self-perpetuating, a cycle of consumption and the decimation left in it's wake.
More troubling still, Humanity's head's down, they've got their backs breaking into the machine, and while they have a peripheral awareness of the carousel they're supporting, they never look up and never look out, never to see what it's all really about. They feel the gears grinding but they don't know why, the heat is unbearable but they have to “get by" so, they man the machine and power the Elite."

"The Elite hold themselves separate from the rest of Humanity, content in their interests and gadgetry, living in the excesses of luxury, above the heat and grease of the grinding gears of their strategy distracting Humanity, as if untouched by the set-in-motion. Inevitability it can't last forever, certainly...Work IS play up here, and the Elite intend to be fixed in the hierarchy indefinitely. More troubling, they represent the worst of the worst in greed, lust, pride, and gluttony; akin to the four horseman (War, Famine, Death, and Pestilence) perched on the carousel of consciousness castrating consumerism and conditioning. What's sin when you're the demi-gods of human society?"

"And then there's reality, even over the heads of the Elite; this carefully crafted carousel society is in a planetary fishbowl of diversity well beyond the nuances of Humanity. Tragically, everything the Elite orchestrates and Humanity operates on the machine, also effects animal and plant life... more and more often right down to extinction. It's counter clockwise to the natural order, but only Humanity (not the Elite) has the power to stop the machine, to break it down and rebuild in the spirit of co-existing... if only they'd look up and look out, if only Humanity would see the big picture of their carousel society…"

"The colours are muted at the bottom, but the carousel is very vivid. The bright colors attract your eye there first, and the muted details drag your eye around until the whole picture becomes clear. The fishbowl representing earth is fragile yet dominant. A special note on the walking vacuums wearing bright red pumps, I wanted to laugh out loud but the truth of it is so stark the unshed tears made it impossible. "

Amongst the sea animals circling the fragile glass globe there is the Steller Sea Cow. This is the one that looks a little like a seal in the top left corner, it was discovered in 1741 on an island in the Berring sea and was 30ft in length. It was made extinct within 27 years of it's discovery by human predation.

The painting was brilliantly reviewed by Mandy Elliott . Her words are in speech marks, slightly edited.

Materials used:

acrylic on canvas

Tags:

#neural pathway #blue whle #stellar sea cow #seascape #red #clouds #surrealism #fish #fantasy #symbolism #flying #windy #turtle #shark #daniel loveday #carousel #fishbowl #hammerhead shark #red planet #capitalism #formation #slaves #red round