Death + Prosperity - Thomas Hjelm
Title: Death + Prosperity
Dimensions: 90 x 120 cm
Material: Inkjet and Paint on Linen
Artist: Thomas Hjelm
Death + Prosperity alludes to shared experiences and ambitions, imbued with traditional cultural symbolism. The work is stripped back in comparison to the rest of the exhibition as he confronts the viewer with a lone skull carrying digital memories in a deserted plain.
The skeleton of our past actions is always tangibly present, reminding the viewer to focus on the ‘now’, even in the newfound fully screen-based realities which occupy our idea of modern life. The addictive nature of on-screen presence has been metamorphized as Hjelm manipulates the linen to adhere horns onto the stretcher; giving body to the decaying ethereal. Death + Prosperity is a reduction of the digital and physical realm to their basic carnal desires, exploring objecthood through the deprivation of presence.