Betrayal

Artwork Info

• Year: 2012
• Medium: Matte Painting.
• Style: Surreal Digital Art.
• Size:  65×65 inches (165×165 cms).
• Model: Deposit Photos.

“Betrayal” is a surreal digital art about global warming created in Adobe Photoshop.

Artist’s statement

betrayal /bɪˈtreɪəl/ noun

1. the act of exposing or delivering someone to an enemy through treachery or disloyalty.
2. failure to keep or honor a promise or principle.

“Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible Nature. Unaware that this Nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshiping.” Hubert Reeves.

“Betrayal” is a harsh critique on capitalism and imperialism. Business monopolies are wasting the planet’s resources by creating things we don’t need. They distribute them on disproportionate fashions between the North and the South. We are stealing resources in the name of progress, ignoring the fact that they’re limited. This will only lead to more inequality if the political plans in the name of technological supremacy don’t stop and start to take degrowing measurements.

Artwork breakdown

The image shows two different scenes: On the left, an antropomorphized vision of Gaia or Mother Earth in bright, colorful tones. A series of mountains, forests, greenery and lush landscapes are shaped in the form of a woman. Animals roam freely through her body as the generous masses of water fall from her head to the abyss, creating the illusion that she’s crying, which compensates the absense of emotions in her expression.

On the right, we can find the reason of her grief: she’s being threatened at gunpoint. A burnt male hand, presumably from a business man,  holds a revolver pointing at her. Buildings, cranes and clouds of pollution populate the gun barrel. At the end of it, a par of sensual lips are ready to give her the kiss of death, symbolizing the betrayal of humankind to the nature that created us.