Signifying Nothing
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Commentary
This piece takes its title from Act 5, Scene 5 of Macbeth, and its famous speech.
The language of this speech has been very influential, affecting artists such as William Faulkner. AK's image is a deep red, a scary color that suggests violence, anger, and blood. Black curtains of death enshroud a tiny stage, on which stands a "poor player," wailing with his tiny mouth, and gesturing with over-sized hands, tossing his script to the wind. The question is whether or not the gesture and the unheard wail signify nothing. Macbeth's speech comes after hearing his wife is dead, so his bleak view of human life must be taken in context. AK's little player has the image for his context - the red stage and black curtains. This certainly signifies something pictorially, but AK brings that process of recognition and meaning into question with the title and the context it brings. Artistic images speak to us, and we believe we know what they signify, but AK's title suggests that this in fact signifies nothing. This is not pure nihilism, but a rhapsody on the deepest issues of human existence, and the problems men face when trying to explain them. Macbeth is a doomed man who has lost everything important to him, so it is natural that his tale culminates in nothing for him. Macbeth resolves our life into nothing, because he is asking for answers that unfortunately do not exist. He is attempting to define the very meaning of existence, and we can imagine AK's little player is wailing in a vain attempt to do the same. AK's little player cannot hope to convey the meaning of his life, through words spoken or written, any more than any of us can, yet by participating in the process, we as an audience to this image or to the story of Macbeth experience emotions more complex than simple despair. When we scream at the universe and ask "What is it for?," we are not going to get an answer, and we know it, so the "nothing" is expected. This nothing, this silence, becomes our answer. Like the karthasis of Greek Tragedy, participating with this image of man at his most vulnerable, his most frightened, reminds us of the frailty and ineffability of existence, and emboldens our resolve, rather than throwing us into despair. All this deep talk reminds me of the work of the great French Romantic painter Gericault, enjoy!
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Image and title "Signifying Nothing" copyright 2001 by the artist