"Après Moi, le Déluge"
Oil on linen. 2024-ongoing
"Après moi, le déluge," translated to, "after me, the flood," is a quote attributed to King Louis XV of France. The king was an accomplished amateur astronomer, and the comment, made in 1757, was in reference to the predicted return of Hailey's Comet, thought at the time to have caused the biblical Genesis Flood. Thought the comet returned on-schedule and caused no flooding, the phrase has become a common and broad expression of nihilism.
The scenes in these paintings reflect various applications of the idea, be it a disregard for the affect of one's actions on the future, lack of success to change an outcome, or the acceptance of the undesirable but inevitable. Rather than focus solely on despondency, however, the figures move beyond this and find some measure of peace, possibly even some dryly derived amusement, in their acquiescence, deserved or otherwise. They acknowledge - if not embrace - their inability to alter fate. They adjust focus from futile attempts at change to seeking ways and mentalities for living in the moment. Peace is found.