Power Up

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on September 18, 2014 at 5:05pm

Curator’s Comments:  

 

The high contrast graphic quality of Power Up is well suited to the authoritarian nature of this image.  The disembodied arms and hands gesturing as guns echo the small weapon motif below, amplifying their power.  I appreciate the way the silhouetted sticks evolve into guns and higher forms of ammunition as they move up through the hierarchy of the picture plane.  The interior shapes also suggest a video game, in the way the figurative forms were abbreviated through pixilation- though I don’t know that they intentionally speak to the primacy of technology in war. It’s interesting that the fallen dove is rendered in a slightly different manner.  While the symbolic color choice and iconography are easily read within the narrative, there’s also the psychological sense in the aesthetic choices that peace is not part of the plan.