Communication Breakdown

Description

This painting depicts failed communications in several ways. First, and most obvious, is the robot. By his body language it appears he is trying to communicate with a cactus. Maybe because he perceives that it is a life form capable of such abilities. You laugh, but he is not really all that wrong, because upon closer inspection you will see, woven in the needles of the cacti’s left arm the word “HELLO”. Problem is… it is on the backside of the arm facing away from the robot where it cannot be seen. You will also notice a small string of lights located in the distance beneath the robots arm. This is Morse code for HELLO. The monitor on his chest displays Cherokee alphabet for “Hello”. There are also smoke signals rising in the far background, but they are blowing behind the butte before they can be interpreted. Indians have left Petroglyphs and Pictograms for us, but we don’t know what they were trying to say, someone put a message in a bottle and it lies there unopened and unread. There are telephone poles carrying conversations we cannot hear, and radio towers playing music, news, and entertainment that we cannot receive. It is a world of misunderstandings and miscommunications. That is why it is said:

The greatest illusion about communications is that it has occurred.

Sorry, the original of this piece has been sold (01.29.17 – Boca Raton, FL)