ONLINE’S DIVINE COMEDY // BADTIME STORIES EXHIBITION - Video

“ONLINE’S DIVINE COMEDY”
(The Descent on the Monster)
charcoal, spray paint, acrylic & oil on canvas
175 x 248cm
p.2022


Man vs Machine, the race of our industrial revolution has caught up it would seem. As much as we put the greatest brains and surgeons to the job of constructing artificial intelligence(A.I.) we realise that the mind of the computers we create are only as good as the power that we allow it to possess. This painting attempts to reclaim humanity from the robots we call (A.I.) artificial intelligence. In this piece we see man’s robot represented in the form of a machine nude female, limp, catatonic and powerless. The electrical socket has been removed. A grim reaper as head surgeon represents both the expiration of all mankind and our only hope to save it. Seemingly asleep, her power is literally removed as she is detached from her phone, this is emphasised by the Wi-Fi icon seen here upside down. She is dead without power, dead without the Internet. As much as we’d like to believe that “God is not online” Are we sure? And if Ai does develop a faith in some power greater than itself, what exactly will that be? Difficult to predict the future it is, more questions than answers I’m afraid.