Metropolis III – 'Nothing is certain but death and taxes'.

Kasia — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:10:08 +0000

Here is my new painting Metropolis III from the series Metropolis, dedicated to a rather fatalistic and sardonic proverb 'Nothing is certain but death and taxes'. The image of Death isn't so difficult but the image of taxes is.
In truth you can imagine, you can speculate about the symbolisation of taxes in my painting but it is indeed difficult to find it. It is open to individual interpretation.

I presented this painting, together with the other two from the series Metropolis at my last solo exhibition (Lodz, Poland) and the reaction was very positive. However the paintings were taken as a very fatalistic vision of our life by the visitors.

Metropolis III - Nothing is certain but death and taxes' painting by Kasia B. Turajczyk; acrylics on canvas 90 cm x 90 cm

Going back to the taxes: from time to time I have to spend a lot of time with my accountant discussing my taxes. In a certain way accountancy is highly creative work. Nevertheless I hate it, I hate to do the administrative work and I don’t like to pay the taxes. And it is not that I don’t want to give my money away for a good reason or to charitable projects. I just don’t want to give my money to the government who will spend it and invest it in/for the salaries of the clerks, politicians, their weird expenses, their trips to more or less exotic places, idiotic ideas, insane wars and thousands of other preposterous fixations.

About Death – it is sure that we were born at some point and it is sure that we will die once. We know when we were born but we don’t know when we will pass away. And we don’t know how. But, this raises another question. Is it actually important how we die? In what way, how long, distinguished or not, humane or not, in a total fear or in a peaceful reconciliation?
I think that all the issues about death are very unimportant at the end. quasi intellectual – quasi philosophical – part hypocritical debates.
Death is a split second when we go from a kind of material condition of entity into nonentity. For this act of nature isn’t important at all where, when and in what kind of situation we are dying. For sure nobody knows, what death actually is, what is after death, what one can expect on the other distinct side.

Maybe, a black hole?

And as Woody Allen says in one of his movies “Fear of death! It’s funny. I have that too. My dog has that too.”

P.S.1. Medieval art is one of my favourite art periods, I just love it. I am fascinated by the fact that the people of the medieval period could have lived in such intimacy with death. Life was never-ending; death was a mere interruption of the continuum; after which the soul would await the Last Judgement

P.S.2. Comment from David: “On a side note I think it's interesting how surrealist art can be open to different interpretations, each clearly dependant on the individuals own knowledge and experience… but then I guess that's the same with anything that's not accompanied by words. Either way, a very good picture! ”

Kasia Turajczyk » after death

Metropolis III – 'Nothing is certain but death and taxes'.