Around 2012, I painted this painting. Dawn of the New World. It ended up showing in the Biennale of Chianciano in 2013. When I painted it, there had been much talk of prophesy of the end of the world. Of course 2013 came and things continued. People laughed off another failed prophesy, the world did not end.
Or did it? When we think of the world we often mistakenly think it means the planet! But what of our world, the world as we know it? When I was young, my world had no cell phones and barely any computers. When I painted this, everyone was staring at their screens, absorbed, captivating everyone’s attention.
Now in 2024, the Dawn of the New World is truly happening again with the birth of AI.
My painting appears bleak, yet many of the characters within it seem quite content.
Sometimes I ponder which of the characters I am becoming. Am I nervous of the change? Enamored by it? Feeling trapped by it? Or feeling freed?
One thing for sure it has changed how I feel I can reach people artistically. Once there was a time as an artist, you would work on a project, everyone waiting with anticipation, ‘what did she do this time?’ Now if you work in such a way, you might disappear into obscurity, it is all about the following now. The posts and the likes, but then one takes time from the other.
I am curious to know, for the public of today, what truly draws someone to see something in person? Is is watching it evolve and then wanting to know the end result? Or is there still an irresistible pull toward the mystery?
