LEGACY

I had read a children’s book a while back (‘The witch week’ by Dyana Wynne Jones) and there was this one sentence about how magic was inherited from the ancestors. It’s a widely used concept in books, but, in that one moment, questions arose in my mind: did I inherit my artistic abilities from a long-forgotten ancestor? Will my artistic talent be passed down my generations after me? Did I want that or not? Is there someone living his/her life with Vang Gogh’s talent!? And then I remembered that it was a fictional story…But then I recalled that there is a law in Chemistry (called ‘The First Law of Thermodynamics) that states: energy is neither created nor destroyed. And doesn't everything come from energy?

The statue in the middle is a self-portrait of myself. Statues are not living objects, meaning that this is after I have passed away. She is wearing a black robe with golden embroidery; this signifies that I have lived a fulfilling life. I’d like to believe that, by the end, I would have helped other people out in whatever way possible. Almost as if I’d managed to shine some light (the gold) in a darkened and uncertain passage (the black) for others. She is contemplating with joint hands because I’d pondered on the questions above and changed my answer multiple times. The plant coming out of her chest is the talent. I believe that art cannot be taught to everyone or at least the passion for art. I think there must be some kind of talent involved from birth. You can describe that talent as being a natural thing; what is the most visible natural thing in the world? Nature. That plant represents talent. There are three bodiless hands around the central figure. I have painted them in a subtle way because they are not here yet; as I said, this is about my successors. They are trying to pry my talents from me because that’s what I thought it would be like at first. Almost like stealing my talent from me and, maybe, create with it something better than I ever could.

The scenery all around is lively; the world will continue on regardless of whether my talent will die with me or be passed on. Behind me, there are electric poles that serve as trees as well. The third one from the left (the one behind me) is giving the impression of horns on the statue. Isn’t it devilish and selfish to not want to share something with others? Wouldn’t I want my artistic talent to live on and put more beautiful pieces out in the world for more people to see through the years and centuries? Freddie Mercury once said that people could do whatever they wanted with his music, as long as they kept it interesting and I remember being touched by that. That’s how my answer changed to yes, maybe it wouldn’t be bad at all if this talent

Initial sketch

At the bottom of the piece, there is a banner with the writing: ‘Vis create neque perditum’. That is the Latin equivalent of ‘energy is neither created nor destroyed’. There are waves coming from below, trying to wipe what they can before going back. The water tried to take the banner with it, but that wouldn’t bulge. You cannot outrun that law. However, the water grabbed on the black robe and that’s dissolving in the waves. Energy cannot be destroyed, but humans definitely can be. The plant (the talent) also has roots that attached themselves to the banner; this is a further detail to say that maybe talents never leave the Earth.

Although the piece was an original composition, I took major inspiration from two other artists. For the background, I looked at the work of Ruth Speer (from @septemberwildflowers) and, for the waves, I took recreated the technique that Hieu (from @kelogsloops) uses for his own pieces.