Altar to the Digital Serpent
[DISCLAIMER: The meaning of any artwork is found in the dialogue between the artist and the viewer. The meanings I suggest here are NOT necessarily those held by Josh Foley.]
You really need to enlarge this shot to begin to see all of Josh Foley's elements in this strange and poignant work.
I'll confess right now, this is my title for this work (so largely my reading of the work). Josh has not given it one, because he likes the viewer to make up his or her own mind. I have chosen this photograph as the last in the series from Josh Foley's exhibition, "Calculating Infinity" for a reason.
To be honest, when I first saw this work I immediately thought of the incredible, pregnant and bizarre paintings in Carl Jung's 'The Red Book'. This is fundamentally an archetypal work. It only works specifically on the unconscious, because this is precisely the realm from which it emerged. As such it is, by definition, prophetic.
I am no philologist, so I can't interpret the mish-mash of scripts on the wall behind. Part Hebrew letters (but some clearly aren't), some ancient Greek, but not explicitly so. It reminds me of a scene from the Bible. You know it by the saying that has come down in most languages today: "The writing is on the wall."
Please follow me. This is very important. The scene in the Book of Daniel chapter 5, is a feast in the court of the evil Babylonian king Belshazzar. Suddenly, a hand appears and begins to write upon the wall. The young Hebrew prophet Daniel (yes the same one who was thrown into a lions den and survived), interpreted the words as signaling the downfall of the mighty Global empire of its day, Babylon.
From that day on, Babylon has become synonymous with evil empires. Subtle because they tempt us with so many materialistic goods and pleasures as the tempting serpent did in the Garden of Eden. Now please look at what is hidden behind the red curtain on the altar. (the curtain was closed, but viewers are allowed to open it for interaction).
There is the Serpent, the Leviathan, the Dragon revealed for all to see. Suddenly Belshazzar's feast was turned from celebration to fear in an instant. The writing is on the wall!
The digital revolution has led us to the verge of Artificial Intelligence once and for all replacing the human soul. We humans have become the creators of our own demise. If that sounds too stark and bizarre a prospect, then welcome to Belshazzar's feast. A New World Order is about to reveal itself. But here is our hope Eternal.
The writing is on the wall! It is finished. The work is almost done.
Now is the time to prepare for the triumph of Light over Darkness, when all souls are held in the balance.
In the 4th century AD, under severe persecution, the Gnostics fled to desert caves in Egypt and hid their beloved texts in clay vessels. In 1945 they were discovered at Nag Hammadi, and for the first time in 1500 years their message was revealed to the world. This is the end of one such text, 'On the Origin of the World':
“The heavens of the gods of chaos will collapse upon one another and their powers will be consumed. Their realms will also be overthrown. The chief creator’s heaven will fall and split in half. His stars in their sphere will fall down to the earth, and the earth will not be able to endure them. They will fall down to the abyss, and the abyss will be overthrown.
Light will overcome the darkness and banish it. Then the darkness will be like something that never was, and the source of darkness will be dissolved…”
I did not want to share this, and this may prove to only be the beginning of the end of worldly kingdoms (and you have every right to disagree if you will!). But I say it to warn you. The writing is on the wall! Every human civilisation stands judged.
Altar to the Digital Serpent
[DISCLAIMER: The meaning of any artwork is found in the dialogue between the artist and the viewer. The meanings I suggest here are NOT necessarily those held by Josh Foley.]
You really need to enlarge this shot to begin to see all of Josh Foley's elements in this strange and poignant work.
I'll confess right now, this is my title for this work (so largely my reading of the work). Josh has not given it one, because he likes the viewer to make up his or her own mind. I have chosen this photograph as the last in the series from Josh Foley's exhibition, "Calculating Infinity" for a reason.
To be honest, when I first saw this work I immediately thought of the incredible, pregnant and bizarre paintings in Carl Jung's 'The Red Book'. This is fundamentally an archetypal work. It only works specifically on the unconscious, because this is precisely the realm from which it emerged. As such it is, by definition, prophetic.
I am no philologist, so I can't interpret the mish-mash of scripts on the wall behind. Part Hebrew letters (but some clearly aren't), some ancient Greek, but not explicitly so. It reminds me of a scene from the Bible. You know it by the saying that has come down in most languages today: "The writing is on the wall."
Please follow me. This is very important. The scene in the Book of Daniel chapter 5, is a feast in the court of the evil Babylonian king Belshazzar. Suddenly, a hand appears and begins to write upon the wall. The young Hebrew prophet Daniel (yes the same one who was thrown into a lions den and survived), interpreted the words as signaling the downfall of the mighty Global empire of its day, Babylon.
From that day on, Babylon has become synonymous with evil empires. Subtle because they tempt us with so many materialistic goods and pleasures as the tempting serpent did in the Garden of Eden. Now please look at what is hidden behind the red curtain on the altar. (the curtain was closed, but viewers are allowed to open it for interaction).
There is the Serpent, the Leviathan, the Dragon revealed for all to see. Suddenly Belshazzar's feast was turned from celebration to fear in an instant. The writing is on the wall!
The digital revolution has led us to the verge of Artificial Intelligence once and for all replacing the human soul. We humans have become the creators of our own demise. If that sounds too stark and bizarre a prospect, then welcome to Belshazzar's feast. A New World Order is about to reveal itself. But here is our hope Eternal.
The writing is on the wall! It is finished. The work is almost done.
Now is the time to prepare for the triumph of Light over Darkness, when all souls are held in the balance.
In the 4th century AD, under severe persecution, the Gnostics fled to desert caves in Egypt and hid their beloved texts in clay vessels. In 1945 they were discovered at Nag Hammadi, and for the first time in 1500 years their message was revealed to the world. This is the end of one such text, 'On the Origin of the World':
“The heavens of the gods of chaos will collapse upon one another and their powers will be consumed. Their realms will also be overthrown. The chief creator’s heaven will fall and split in half. His stars in their sphere will fall down to the earth, and the earth will not be able to endure them. They will fall down to the abyss, and the abyss will be overthrown.
Light will overcome the darkness and banish it. Then the darkness will be like something that never was, and the source of darkness will be dissolved…”
I did not want to share this, and this may prove to only be the beginning of the end of worldly kingdoms (and you have every right to disagree if you will!). But I say it to warn you. The writing is on the wall! Every human civilisation stands judged.