METROSPHERE
THE EVERLASTING CONFLUENCE OF YIN + YANG Alexander Fraser Awarded Art Submission: Third Place
“The easiest way of actualizing my work is to close your eyes and think about living your current life while aware of another version of yourself twenty years older as well as another forty years older than that—each older self completely aware of the hardships and problems of the previously younger self, yet nothing can be done to alter the past to make the future any different. It’s all about understanding that life is on the other end of death. It’s all about understanding that growth can only happen thinking retroactively while being physically and mentally in the moment. It’s a yin and yang relationship. All of the elements in this artwork relate to the three versions of yourself living in harmony while all barreling towards the end of life at the same speed. The younger self represents the power to endure what is ahead, the middle self represents 64
the power to live in the moment, and the older self represents the power to develop from the younger and middle self. There is death depicted in this drawing on an elemental level, but life and that connectedness to it are what shine through when viewed as a whole. My cut and paste drawing style allows for a smooth transition between old textured and recycled paper, and newly printed vibrant white paper board in this artwork, just like the smooth transition between the young boy’s forehead, older gentleman’s nose and mustache, and the past life’s lower jaw in an almost diagonal timeline from the left to the right side of the paper. We all are aware of the timeline mentioned, and we all require some sort of vitality to live within that timeline while seeing the same vitality being stripped from others. IT IS A YIN AND YANG RELATIONSHIP I TELL YA.”
