The Dichotomy of Life by Joe Aker – FREE Art Opening

Within the images of the people in “The Dichotomy of Life”, you see that each person is made up smaller images.  These individuals carry with them the burdens of life’s challenges. These images reflect the challenges of life today: greed, hate, war, genocide, atrocities, and consumerism.

In a sense, the beauty of the images from a distance conceals those things that disrupt our peace and challenge our compassion and love.  Hopefully, the viewer transitions from this external troubled world into a place of being able to reassess and reflect upon the things they have experienced and to acknowledge that these troubles are still out there.  And to ask, can we change and strive for love, regardless of the specifics of our problems and religious beliefs.

The doors in the show are symbols reflecting the quote by Alexander Graham Bell; “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

The titles originated from my army experience and quotes made during the Vietnam War. Each is meant to make the viewer think. Some include:

“If you kill enough of them, they quit fighting”

“It is better to kill 10 innocents than let one enemy escape”

“We will bomb them into the stone age”

“They were slaughtering villagers like so many sheep”

“There is a Ford in your Future”

“Been to Disneyland Lately”

And various Tibetan doors