Dreams of Utopia

kr 20.000,00

70 x 100 cm on 300 g Hahnmuhle paper.

 

SOLD OUT

Production Year2019
TechniquePen & digital marker
Numbered Edition30
Motif Size70x100
SignedYes

Dreams of Utopia

In today’s society, young people feel pressured to work their asses off to be able to afford the lavish lifestyle they see others apparently have on Instagram. They feel trapped at the workplace where there is no escaping. Still, they thrive to be successful and have a good career. They may not even like their job, but feel compelled to deliver every single day at the office.

In the offices on the left, there are no doors, stairs or elevators in the building, to elevate the feeling of being trapped. If you look closer, they do not enjoy themself, as they are forced to look at the screen all day and push the buttons. But if you look even closer, you might see that they are actually not doing any work, they are all either watching porn, play games or watch conspiracy theories on youtube (There are two of each screen, see if you can find the pairs!). It shows that this way of working is not very motivating, making the workers less efficient and more prone to do fun stuff instead. On the right side of the picture, we see the lavish lifestyle projected on social media. People are smiling and apparently having the time of their lives. They are all putting it up on Instagram and so on, which in turn are creating a false image of how life should be.

Before social media took over our lives, we compared ourselves to our neighbors and friends. Now, we compare ourselves to the entire world, so it’s bound to be someone that has a bigger house, a smaller waist and a more flashy car than you. This makes the expectations of life colossal, and the disappointment even bigger. We have become addicted to the likes and comments on our projected lives on social media. The companies behind the platforms know the psychology that motivates this behavior and is trying to enhance it. The positive feedback we get from the likes and comments are like drugs to our brain, and unfortunately, it’s much to easy for us to get addicted to drugs.

The main character of the picture is flying a helicopter towards an island in Hawaii. The island is representing the dream life, where everything is easy and beautiful. But underneath the surface, there is building up to an eruption. This is a metaphor for the illusion that we see projected on social media. Even though everything seems in perfect order on the surface, they might be broken inside. The instruments in the helicopter are also showing signs of distress. The arrows are pointing on the red sections and a “Danger”-sign is blinking red. The helicopter will never reach its destination, like our never-ending journey through life, where nothing seems good enough, never quite reaching our full potential of happiness. There is always someone happier on your screen, making you feel like your life is not perfect enough.