erhanus

After WWII, the world stopped, turned and looked at itself but could not see the problem was the people
inside people. Social psychology discipline –with all its might– focused on unraveling the authority /
individual relationship. The nature of human, its ambition, its desire for power, were moving along a
path that even the most ordinary individuals did everything to rise, up to misconduct, but lost the
legitimacy of their initial goals and targets for this cause. Ages and civilization could never change this.

Subsequently the reality is manipulated, the citizens are distracted and polarized with populist rhetoric –when the power is transferred–, promises made are forgotten. Yesterday's victims transforms into tomorrow's oppressors, today. It keeps the individual within the stereotypes with content that excludes the non–loyals, feeds on hatred, and no success goes unpunished. Although the rulers change, tyranny is always on hold, in dust.

Power needs an enemy as an instrument of fear in order to perpetuate itself. Stages spectacular plays with alternate victories, and in the blink of an eye it creates its own autocratic oligarchy with favoritism, censorship and repression. Tyrant becomes disidentified as he rises and in the end of his rule, there is either loneliness or death.

This mini exhibition explores the ways in which the contemporary art world has become increasingly focused on decorative aesthetics, with the ignorance of deeper emotional and intellectual engagement. Through a variety of mediums, the works in this show challenge the notion –via using a similar visual language– that art is simply a decorative accessory, meant to provide visual pleasure or to serve as status symbol for its collectors.

Whilst 'Joykiller' offers the audience a solid physical artwork experience, it speaks to the idea that the shallow approach to art can detract from its potential to bring mind / ideologic satisfaction and fulfillment to our lives by simply destroying the interaction with a final strike as if it was a Brechtian technique.

The artworks opposes the –outdated and dysfunctional– Open Work's suggestion of audience to take the initiative of an under / over estimation with a [non–existing] universal cultural background in a conceptual world, instead offering opportunities for deeper reflection, emotional connection, and critical / protest thinking.

As the art world continues to be driven by market forces, it is all inevitable for an out–of–use aesthetics to take center stage and for true artistic expression to become subordinated. 'JoyKiller' invites audiences to reconsider their own 'retinal satisfaction' habits and to reflect on the importance of substance and meaning in art.