Casper David Friedrich

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog 1818

From Wikipedia:

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818). 94.8 × 74.8 cm, Kunsthalle Hamburg. This well-known and especially Romantic masterpiece was described by the writer John Lewis Gaddis as leaving a contradictory impression, “suggesting at once mastery over a landscape and the insignificance of the individual within it. We see no face, so it’s impossible to know whether the prospect facing the young man is exhilarating, or terrifying, or both.”

Personal Interest

I have seen this image of the painting several times since I started living in New York. The most recent event was on a subway and noticing that a high-school student had a book with the image on the front cover. The book was “Frankenstein”, which made it the most appropriate image for the subject matter. The desire for conquest of nature and the resulting implications of the actions to try and fulfill that desire. I understand in my work that there is a constant push to want more control in order to showcase a mastery in my own abilities of artistic expression. To learn enough programming language, what computer/networking systems actually do in terms of actions – some mastery in order to understand the environment to then gain a deeper understanding. Then I realize how deep that path goes and how all encompassing that journey can be.

To think of a network system as the ‘Internet’ existing and the amount of complex interactions happening micro or even nano seconds everyday. The databases that are being built in order to analyze the relationships human beings have with one another on this network. This information could showcase unseen behaviors that haven’t been possible at any other point in history, or be used as a patrolling/advertising force that keeps human beings under control.