The Conductor

Clifton harvey art fine art conductor Gaping threshold Dreadful Delights lost found empty offer separated puppets creatures meek broken abandoned Dystopia Dystopian dark surreal surrealism surrealist post apocalypse sock socks corporate mascot bleak grotesque strange odd bizarre weird beast of burden stilted pegleg billboard Parking Lot derelict rust urban blight decay rustbelt fable dust bowl

The passage from the book of Matthew, "Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth", served as a conceptual starting point for The Conductor. I asked myself "who are the meek and what happens when they inherit the earth?" I imagined a deserted world now inhabited by a variety of creatures that were broken, in both body and spirit. Among this host, I specifically pictured a displaced corporate mascot, abandoned by a society that once revered him, a stilted beast of burden who has grown complacent with being manipulated, and a puddle-bellied brute fascinated with socks. Scenarios involving these characters and others came to mind that forced me to question how we might reclaim our own missing parts and whether some things are worth mending. Drawing upon influences such as comic books, film, cartoons like Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and the dark visions depicted in Goya's Los Caprichos, The Conductor is a reflection on social and economic strife while dealing personal issues such as abandonment, humiliation, and disappointment in falling short of one's ambitions and other's expectations.