A Handful of Dust By Michael Pettet

By (author): Michael Pettet

Title: A Handful of Dust

Subtitle: Digital Paintings

Blurb/Shorttext:

‘I will show you fear in a handful of dust’

The themes of death, mortality, and the ultimate futility of all human endeavour appear throughout T. S. Eliot’s 1922 poem The Waste Land. It has been said that the poem is about ‘brokenness and loss’ and refers to ‘the spiritual and intellectual decay of the modern world.’ These themes are echoed in the digital paintings of Michael Pettet. Dealing with the issues of environmental disaster due to war, negligence, and greed, series such as ‘Incessant Tides’ and ‘Chernobyl Diaries,’ seek to remind the viewer of the fragility of human existence. The post human landscapes evoked by this work are a bleak reminder that we are running out of time to address the issues of climate change and how its effect will ultimately determine the future of humanity. Other series including ‘Portraits’ and ‘Masks’ deal with social, psychological and emotional collapse. Through Art, education and a better understanding of environmental sustainability however, there is still hope. By trying to inject human soul and spirit into the digital medium, that hope is expressed in this work through creativity and craft.

ISBN: 978-1-915600-68-4

Book language: English

Publishing house: Snap Collective Publishing

Publication date: 2/01/2023

Website: www.snap-collective.com

Number of pages: 180

Category: 1587 - Kunst/Fotografie

Keywords: Digital painting, Photomontage, Contemporary art, Modernism