The use of violence as an instrument of domination and excuse to achieve shady or dubious goals; the use of political, ideological and philosophical discourses in order to confuse people's reasoning and remain in power; manipulation of information in order to hide the truth, etc. Anyway, any kind of attitude that serves to justify the exploitation of the human being by the human being has always bothered me and the way I use to express my indignation against it is art. Recently, the destruction of the two WTC towers in New York caused the death of many innocents, shocking the western world that saw Dantesque scenes live. In my heart there was a dichotomy of feeling shocked by the cruel violence visually exposed in that act and at the same time revolted by the disguised violence of some rulers, a superpower and allied countries, which disrespect the most basic principles of civilized coexistence between peoples of different cultures. Unfortunately, these hypocrites have used the blood of the sacrificed as an excuse to continue to hold on to power and continue to exploit diverse peoples who live in strategic locations (economically and militarily), committing more atrocities and injustices against people as innocent as those who died in September of the last year.
The triptych All Quiet on the New Millennium - II is my protest against these attitudes that only increase the level of violence and injustice in the world, generating more dissatisfaction among the exploited populations and serving as a reason for more madness and desperate attitudes by radical minorities. The result of this type of manipulation is always the death of innocents on both sides.
These attitudes and their results are not new, but the leaders of several countries (on both sides of the conflicts) continue unscrupulously using the blood of the innocent to maintain their political positions, maintain their material comforts, increase their financial profits and justify their acts of violence against peoples and cultures that they do not understand. Not even the promise of a new world in this new millennium has been able to sensitize the world's leaders in relation to human respect and cultural differences. For this very reason, we remain at the mercy of the old risk of traditional, bacteriological wars or even of a nuclear catastrophe.
One part of the triptych features the stylized American flag from which missiles depart threatening Islamic culture, represented by the crescent moon with the star, and another part features two free-falling planes that threaten Western culture, represented by the torch of the statue of liberty. These two images are based on the arguments of the two cultures (Western and Islamic). These are two opposing views of the same problem, where the two parts call themselves liberators and call enemies of terrorists. It is interesting to note that the speeches of the leaders of both parts are so equal that, if we think about it, they have unmasked each other. They only continue to pretend to be good guys because they feel protected by the system they defend and because many of us continue to pretend that we don't see this macabre theater where innocent people continue to pay for sinners.
This work was painted on self-made cardboard with the images being hand painted or edited using computer graphics and the computer boards were sawn and ground. The triptych's composition is constructivist and follows the mathematical principles of the golden relationship, a mathematical relationship observed in various creations of nature and already found in the mathematical studies of ancient peoples. Through it, I determined the golden rectangles and located several points and focal areas where the symbolic elements that represent various situations directly related to the theme of the work were placed and that force the viewer to examine the metonymic relationships of the paintings, causing questions. In this sense, computer parts represent the mastery of technology in today's society, which has often served as an instrument of domination by the wealthiest peoples.
My goal with my social criticism through art is to provoke the viewer, using an artistic and subjective language. For me, the most important thing is the reflection that the viewer takes with him after observing my work. I do not dream of transforming the world with my questions, nor do I intend to show that art can eliminate violence in the world, but I like to provoke people to draw their own conclusions about the topic addressed.
Who has eyes, let him see!
Technique: oil + digitized images + objects on self-made cardboard
Dimensions: 153 x 96 cm
Year: 2002-2003
Walter Miranda – 2002/2003
