In this series of original compound prints I have adopted Humpty Dumpty as an emblem of the decline and fall of human societies.  Like living organisms, empires, kingdoms and nations experience natural life cycles and the preponderance of evidence suggests Western Civilization is now past its prime.  While the cold war polarized the world, radical Islam accelerated toward critical mass. In Afghanistan Muhajadeen warriors suckered the US into helping them topple the Soviet Union. As Ronald Reagan took credit for single-handedly causing the downfall of the USSR, militant Islamists prepared for battle.  With one super-power out of the way, the other could easily be drawn into a struggle for world domination.

We have seen this movie before.  Athens’ hunger for power played into the hands of the Spartans, led to the Peloponnesian War and the subsequent downfall of the Athenian Empire.   Rome’s relentless pursuit of imperial expansion ushered in a barbarian hegemony. The examples of societies destroyed by hubris are legion.

The Fall is a suite of 16 compound original prints completed in the summer of 2006.  The works are inkjet prints on transparencies mounted over inkjet prints on Rives BFK.  The central icon of the series is Humpty Dumpty.  If we accept him as a symbol of downfall in general, then his descent is not, as in the story of Adam and Eve, the fault of the serpent or the woman or the man, but is inherent in life (since the egg itself is a symbol of life and all living organisms experience a natural life cycle which ends in death).

Prints from the Fall are available matted and framed for $1,250.

Cathedral, 2006 Inkjet print on transparency over inkjet print on Rives BFK 12" X 18" collection Lynette Kuykeneall. Photograph by the artist

Forton, 2006 Inkjet print on transparency over inkjet print on Rives BFK 12" X 18" Photograph by the artist

Greece, 2006 Inkjet on transparency over inkjet print on Rives BFK 12" X 18" Photograph by the artist

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