Free Me Neo..
200 x 160 cm, oil on canvas, 2007. In private collection.
The painting was inspired by Nelly Furtado’s music video “Say It Right”.
The composition mimics a film frame with visible black stripes at the top and bottom of the image. In the bottom margin, white lettering reads: “Free Me Neo..”, which refers to the main character from “The Matrix” film series. He is seen as a messiah that would save the world from the matrix-computer-generated illusion and unite humanity with the “real”.
The central part of the painting shows the silhouette of a young man with his arms spread out in dynamic movement. I see in this man a slave of today’s world of mass media, consumerism and pop culture. Trapped in a contemporary, “untrue” world, he cries out for help to the cyberpunk messiah: “Free me Neo”. But is it possible to objectively perceive oneself in a world of which one is an integral part?
The image acts as a graphic sign, a kind of painterly billboard. The simple graphic form acts as an advertisement, which, combined with the scale, intensifies the expression of the image.
The painting was inspired by Nelly Furtado’s music video “Say It Right”.
The composition mimics a film frame with visible black stripes at the top and bottom of the image. In the bottom margin, white lettering reads: “Free Me Neo..”, which refers to the main character from “The Matrix” film series. He is seen as a messiah that would save the world from the matrix-computer-generated illusion and unite humanity with the “real”.
The central part of the painting shows the silhouette of a young man with his arms spread out in dynamic movement. I see in this man a slave of today’s world of mass media, consumerism and pop culture. Trapped in a contemporary, “untrue” world, he cries out for help to the cyberpunk messiah: “Free me Neo”. But is it possible to objectively perceive oneself in a world of which one is an integral part?
The image acts as a graphic sign, a kind of painterly billboard. The simple graphic form acts as an advertisement, which, combined with the scale, intensifies the expression of the image.
Related exhibitions
—
Introspection
Painting Studio XII at 10 Szewska Street (Poznan, Poland 2010)
Party
Signum Foundation (Poznan, Poland 2009)
Painting Studio XII
Contemporary Art Gallery (Wloclawek, Poland 2009)
Articles
Inner speech and tacit knowledge
Probably each of us has talked to oneself, if not aloud, then at least in thoughts. Man is entangled in a continuous dialogue not only with other people but also with himself...
Words of art
Art begins with void – the empty abyss of white emanating from paper or canvas. But void ends with the emergence of awareness, and thus thought – silent naming. So, the word...
Metauniverse – the reality of music videos
We do not exist without stories. We are narrators in the world of hypertext, sometimes in the first, other times in the third person. A music video, which runs on average for...
Articles
Words of art
Art begins with void – the empty abyss of white emanating from paper or canvas. But void ends with the emergence of awareness, and thus thought – silent naming. So, the word...
Inner speech and tacit knowledge
Probably each of us has talked to oneself, if not aloud, then at least in thoughts. Man is entangled in a continuous dialogue not only with other people but also with himself...
Metauniverse – the reality of music videos
We do not exist without stories. We are narrators in the world of hypertext, sometimes in the first, other times in the third person. A music video, which runs on average for...
Hierofany of pop culture Messiah
Pop culture Hierophany, or manifestations of the sacrum, is carried out in commercial spaces of modern department stores. Where each of us can find our own private messiah...