Thanatos Electrónico | session Oct. 2024

These works raise profound questions about the relationship between the physical and the digital, and the role of technology in the inescapable cycle of life and death.

…Information overload and entertainment disconnect us from nature and our own mortality. The screen, once a mirror of life and fantasy, becomes a container of death here, reminding us that everything we consume is, in essence, affected by the passage of time…

Title: “Thanatos Electrónico”

Technical analysis: The compositions are characterized by a striking use of memento mori, a theme that has been explored since the Renaissance, where artists such as Hans Holbein and Pieter Claesz used the symbol of the skull to remind us of the inevitability of death. Here, the skull is reinterpreted in a contemporary context, with technology as the protagonist. The works also evoke the surrealism of Salvador Dalí, with the way reality and fantasy intertwine; in particular, the almost dystopian treatment of the environment is reminiscent of H.R. Giger, who explored the fusion between machine and organism.

The use of cold lights and dark backgrounds reinforces a somber atmosphere, contrasted by the graphic violence of the exposed skeleton in one of the images, which could refer to the invisible horrors of the 21st century: wars, environmental destruction, and the consequences of technological overload. Other images in this series, in a cleaner and more minimalist tone on a deep red background, recall 20th-century propaganda posters, playing with symbolic colours of passion and death, with possible allusions to artists such as Francis Bacon, who explored the flesh and human decay.

Software: Blender + Stable Diffusion + Photoshop.

Author: Marco Antonio P.R.

Date: Throughout October 2024.

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