THE CRUCIFIXION OF ELVIS AT THE LAST HOUR OF SOCRATES
NIILARTEY DE OSU
2014
Diptych, (2) 66”x44” (60"x40" Image) Enlarged Photographic Print of Multimedia Collage
It is about how society treats those who come to be the voice of their times. Elvis died of drug overdose, Socrates was sentenced to die by poison. They both were, in effect, crucified for corrupting the youth. Both introduced ideas and styles that were deemed subversive by the authority, and this ultimately brought about their demise. Though they both achieved great fame and celebrity in their lives, this did not spare them the human tendency of making martyrs of messengers.
BURNING REMBRANDT: THE COSMIC NIGHT WATCH
NIILARTEY DE OSU
2016
44”x70” Print on Giclee Print Archival Paper - Entrada Rag Matte Fine Art
A commentary on the artistic situation of our time. It conveys through the burn, two diverging points that are unified, thereby revealing diversity in unity. One, the presence of Classical work, by one called a ‘grand master’ who holds a seat that has become a roadblock where no one has tried to climb or surpass. Two, the burn is the eradication of such obstacle. But this eradication is not so much a white out, but more as a revelation: a revelation that preserves the Classical heritage and the High Minded Sensibility, while affirming them, at the same time negating them, so that a door is opened where light comes through to reveal that which must be seen - the appearance of Neoillusion.
CASSANDRA OF THE SIGHS
I AM THE WAY THAT YOU SAY
IPHIGENIA'S GAZE
21st CENTURY ICONS
NIILARTEY DE OSU
2016
35x96" Multimedia Collage Paintings
21st Century Icons are about showing the face of the moment, the face of the 21st Century. Employing media we see every day on the streets and in magazines to serve as atmospheric matter, the calligraphic portrait becomes the nuance and connection that tie our personal and universal lives together. The messages found in each portrait are the meanings of the intertwined existence, past and present, seen and unseen.