Luzangela Martinez
December 8, 2020
Final Project: King Nebuchadnezzar
Throughout
the semester, it was learned that an artist’s past experiences will greatly
influence their work style. For example, Andy Warhol, a leading artist of the
1960s Pop Art Movement, experienced a fatal childhood disease which stirred his
obsession for celebrities, fame and money. Another popular American artist,
Jean-Michel Basquiat, was hit by a car causing him to spend a month in the
hospital. As a result, most of his pieces displayed a prevalent theme of death.
Overall, this is true for all artists. As Dahlia Elsayed once said, “for
artists in general, a lot of things start with the personal” (Gorce).
Utilizing
this technique inspired by both Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, I decided
that my final project be inspired by my own personal experiences. Since the age
of six, I have been a dedicated Christian—always attending church and
participating in various church events. As a child, I always enjoyed attending
Sunday school to learn different biblical stories. One of my favorite stories
was about the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the book of Daniel chapter 3,
Daniel describes how the King had a dream about a gigantic statue that was made
of four metals: gold, silver, brass, iron and clay. With the assistance of
Daniel, the King was able to build this statue in the exact way it was
highlighted in his dream. Unfortunately, the King used the statue at his
advantage and forced everyone to bow down and worship the statue at the sound
of “horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music” (Chp. 3 v. 15).
However, three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to bow down to the
statue and worship it. They replied that they do not worship or bow down to any
other god than their own. As a result, this enraged King Nebuchadnezzar where
he decided to throw them into the pit of fire. However, they weren’t consumed
by the fire and came out unharmed due to the Lord protecting them.
Although
we never physically see the statue, the bible gives a vivid description on the
appearance of the statue. The author of The Ways of Seeing, John Berger,
emphasized that images could “outlast what it represented….[showing] something
or somebody had once looked [like] and thus by implication how the subject had
once been seen by other people” (Berger 68). As I have grown older, I have
realized that there is a deeper meaning behind this great statue. It symbolizes
things we often praise as idols in our lives such as our smart phones, tablets,
television, video game consoles or any other electronic devices. Sadly, these
“spectacles” alienate us from the true meaning of life. As Debord once stated, “The spectacle within society corresponds
to a concrete manufacture of alienation…..What grows with the economy in motion
for itself can only be the very alienation which was at its origin” (Debord 32). In
this quote, Debord emphasizes the main purpose of the spectacle—to alienate. It
alienates people from their lives, where they become unaware of the true
meaning of living. In this case, he blames economic capital for alienating
people. People have been working double the hours to be able to purchase items
that allow them to fit into society.
For this project, it took me several hours to
hand draw and paint the statue. There are three separate parts to the
painting—the head and neck, body and legs with a clay platform. Unfortunately,
the statue can not stand on its own due to these three separate parts. To allow
the features of the statue to stand out, I traced specific areas of his body
with sharpie. Overall, this was a great experience for me to paint something
that has impacted my life. Unlike the first self-image project, I was able to
think more like a true artist and express my emotions and feelings using paint.
Furthermore, this project was inspired by my own personal experiences similar to artists. Not only does this statute symbolize my own personal experiences, it also represents the idea of the spectacle causing people to alienate themselves from the true meaning of life.
References
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. BBC
and Penguin, 1972.
Gorce, Tammy La. “Painting With Words,
Writing With Color.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Jan.
2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/nyregion/a-review-of-dahlia-elsayed-hither-and-yon-at-new-jersey-state-museum.html.
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 2017.
“The Situationist International Text
Library/The Society of the Spectacle.” Library,
library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/16.
**This statue measures approximately 6 feet
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