The Invisible Hope

Contemplating the post-contemporary political, religious, and artistic climate.

Street Art

A sticker reading 'The Invisible Hope' with an image of a faceless man, indicated by a suit and hat with empty space in between, and in the empty space a series of compact symbols including a Cross, Swastika, Jewish star, Communist sickle, upside down Islamic moon and star, and a kite or diamond.

The sticker is placed in several high profile locations with severe capitalistic symbolism and photographed. (See http://jasongreendyk.blogspot.com/2012/11/amongst-sins-of-freedom-parody.html)

The faceless man with a suit and hat is taken from H.G. Wells' novel, The Invisible Man. Hence 'The Invisible' in the sticker text. 'Hope' in the sticker text is taken from the popular street image from the last election depicting Obama and the word 'Hope.' Accidentally implicit in the reference to H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man, is a reference to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.

Ellison's novel is a statement on his disillusion with the Communist party for betraying African Americans and Marxist class politics. The identity of the narrator is an African American man who considers himself invisible due to race and class politics. However, he also considers in his invisibility there is truth and light. In H.G. Wells' novel, the main character uses his invisibility to invoke a 'Reign of Terror.' This juxtaposition between light and dark is indicative of the parody inherent in the symbolisms of the sticker.

Moving forward, the concept of invisibility, especially in terms of race, is juxtaposed with the reference to Obama, to date the epitome of racial political visibility, particularly for African Americans as relevant to Ellison's Invisible Man.

Also incorporated in this reference to Obama and H.G. Wells' instance of 'Reign of Terror.' is the conservative fears of terrorism extending from the media's depiction of Obama as Muslim, and thereby also representing the confounding of racial prejudices in conservative thought. This is further enhanced by the upside down Islamic moon and star, both the confounding and the parody of terrorist fears.

Fitting as well, then, is that the moon of the Islamic symbol is created by what also serves as the Communist sickle, thereby also parodying the conservative fears of socialism in Obama's political approach.

Going deeper on the religious front, the star of the Islamic symbol is confounded as the Jewish star. Further, extending from the cross at the near center of the piece, are lines creating a Swastika. This clear juxtaposition reaches back to the, so to speak, 'Reign of Terror' of Nazi Germany in World War II, also the time setting of Ellison's Invisible Man. These references further exacerbate the American dilettante-esque confounding of religious/racial identities in conservative prejudice, and also intensify the stark juxtapositions present in the work.

Then, embedded in all this symbolism is a symbol that could represent a kite, or a diamond. Insofar as it would be interpreted as a kite, it stems from a line of poetry, 'The cross is a kite in Bohemian skies' and is a reference to the post-contemporary artistic culture which seeks a united existence in artistic expression and is perhaps the epitome, or essence, of 'The Invisible Hope' of contemporary enlightened culture, while the work also allows for the parody of Communist tendencies in this notion of united existence.

Tainting this pure Bohemian interpretation further than a Communist parody, however, is the interpretation of the symbol as a diamond, a representation of wealth, materialism, and ultimately, capitalism. This reference is further solidified in the capitalist settings in which the sticker is placed, like Wall St. This juxtaposition itself demonstrates the difficult reality of addressing the dream of united existence, very present in the capitalism of the arts and the climate of post-contemporary culture, down to the sinews of everyday life.


Jason Greendyk, www.jasongreendyk.com