Adriana Seserko | 100 Seconds To Midnight | SOLD
One Hundred Seconds to Midnight 2022
153 x 111 cm
Synthetic polymer paint on linen
Signed
SOLD
Can you hear it? The persistent tick, tick, tick. The sound, although outwardly innocuous, is indeed a dire warning. It foretells of great peril to all life on earth and signifies that the end is nigh. The sound of course resonates from the doomsday clock, as its hands reach one hundred seconds to midnight. One hundred seconds before armageddon is unleashed. Not much time for humanity to engineer a solution that would see the natural world’s equilibrium restored. Not much time to save and preserve what is left. Not a lot of time at all indeed, yet every second counts. To act now may allow man to adroitly steer the ship to safety, far from harm’s way and out of the king of all storm’s, away from global warming. Simple, right? Perhaps so yet humanity is lagging, slow to act and in denial. Too many believe that the scientific evidence is fake news. The obvious and catastrophic change in our climate is natural. Animal extinction rates are hyped up and pandemics orchestrated to control the masses. Nothing to see here friends, life as usual. So tell me what hope is there truly? I for one think that the loss of just one species is one too many. The severe change in our climate that we have recently witnessed and experienced is not natural or normal. I see the complacency and I fear the worst. I’m dismayed to think what the children born today will have to suffer tomorrow. What a legacy we leave.
Flamboyant, the macaws are merely the actors in this painting. They could have easily have been a pride of lions lounging in the heat of the African sun, a raucous flock of sulphur crested cockatoos amid the silvery eucalypts, or majestic polar bears in a frozen tundra. The macaws simply put, are symbols of all life on earth and reveal an increasing struggle for survival in the face of global warming. Every continent, every creature, and every ecosystem is under threat. Do not be fooled into thinking that humanity is separate or somehow sheltered from the collapse that is occurring in our natural world. We too are part of the intricate web of life and what catastrophe befalls nature will too ruin man.
This painting is full of symbolic imagery and whilst I intend to explain some of the symbols, I invite the viewer to look carefully and attempt to interpret the meanings of others. My artworks, although influenced by my personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings, are always open to individual interpretation.
To begin, I have incorporated two Latin phrases into the artwork. “Acta, non verba” translated reads as, “Deeds, not words”. Certainly, it is swift action that is required if man truly wishes to combat climate change and yet, talk is all that humanity can seem to muster. The second Latin phrase “Qui Bono”, carved into the trunk of a tree simply asks, “to whom is it a benefit?” A major factor as to the reluctance of governments to truly bring about real change is the influence of the fossil fuel industries, who donate generously to political parties to secure their agenda. The safeguarding of the almighty economy too, deemed more important than a healthy and abundant natural world takes precedence. Who indeed does benefit? Perhaps in the short term, oil, coal, and mining tycoons may reap the rewards gained by their selfish acts of environmental vandalism, and stock markets may soar, yet in time, with global warming, no one will benefit. Our beloved earth will not be habitable. FULL STOP. Nothing will survive. So I ask, what good is a booming economy to us then?
The golden stopwatch held by the macaw in the foreground of the painting is a representation of the doomsday clock. The macaw plays with the watch, swinging it about. Like the macaw, humanity plays with danger, never considering what the consequence of their foolery may be. The smoking clay pipe precariously placed on the junction of two branches, denotes both the fleeting nature of life and too the smouldering tinderbox, that at any moment may erupt into flames and unleash hell upon the world. When one plays with fire, one gets burnt. On the opposite side of the canvas, two rowdy macaws pull at a turquoise and quartz necklace. Their exertions lead to the breaking of the necklace. Turquoise has long been a symbol of abundance but more specifically financial abundance, whilst quartz is associated with balance and spiritual wellbeing. What then might the destruction of the necklace signify? Mans quest for material wealth at the expense of all else can only lead to misery. To be disconnected from the natural world is to be spiritually disabled. Other symbolic objects to consider are the tarot cards, glass orb, the rusty old axe, seashells, and the snake clasping the hatching egg. I leave the viewer to decipher their meaning in hope that it may spark conversation and raise awareness. Global warming is the greatest issue of our day and unless we act together and now, there will be no future.
Adriana Seserko
Born: 1990
Adriana has been painting most of her life. Her attention to the finer detail gives her the ability to create beautifully rendered masterpieces.
Her works often engage the viewer with a moral value, she believes strongly in the preservation of our planet and painting provides her with an instrument in which her views can be expressed to the greater community
