Dark Father Analysis

The art of Ancient Greece has been imitated extensively since its inception. One notable adoption was the sculpture Dark Father by Genco Gülan, a contemporary Turkish artist focused on new media/digital age art whose work tends to have social, cultural and political connotations. Dark Father is a sculpture of Darth Vader's mask on the shoulders of Marcus Aurelius, a piece heavily loaded with cultural and political meaning. What themes does Dark Father explore and what tools were used to achieve this? Dark Father was created in 2013 as part of the series Future Archaeology, smooth classical marble pieces each with a contemporary twist. Hercules has Athena's head, Livia Drusilla is three heads attached at the necks, Darth Vader is on a Roman emperors bust. The head of Darth Vader, the highly-ranked henchman in
contemporary pop culture movies Star Wars, is being supported by the shoulders of Marcus Aurelius the Roman emperor who reigned from 161-180AD.
His rulership was commemorated in painting, writing, sculpture, in currency, and in many other mediums. This commemoration alleviates the subject to a higher, more idyllic status, a hero to be remembered and admired by immortalising it in life-size 3D. This disconnects the subject from the viewer, as the subject is seen as something untouchable, to be worshipped. This power play keeps the viewer respectful, reverent and even subordinate. This being such a strong propaganda tool is what makes the use of Darth Vader fascinating. Appropriating the seriousness of ancient roman idealisation and merging it with a contemporary pop culture ruler spotlights the very idea of the propaganda, which is not always obvious, making dark father a commentary or observation but not a judgement, as the viewer is
left to decide her or his opinion. The usage of a fictional character is what adds a tone of humour and cheekiness to the image, as it undermines the strength and idealisation so actively pushed for, while the usage of an evil fictional character negatively implicates the roman ruler. It adds a playful lightness and the juxtaposition of contemporary and classical not only parodies the idealisation produced by immortalising rulers in art practice, but comments on the ritualistic ways humans celebrate humans. The bust of Marcus Aurelius was sculpted during his reign for political use to be seen by his subjects. Rulers being made into artworks is a common tool to insight favour and appreciation into the minds and hearts of all being ruled. The ruler is used in sculpture, painting, even the currency. The usage of realism makes the piece convincing as well as keeping the ruler in the back of the population's mind everytime they spend or earn money, or every time they step into a room with a sculpture inside. This keeps the ruled vigilant and complacent, partially out of fear and paranoia. The strength of these ideals was furthered by the techniques used by sculptors creating these pieces. Marcus was a philosopher who prided himself on a peaceful reign and so was portrayed with a veristic style to invoke respect and honour through the imperfections/realism purposefully sculpted. The dignity and merit carefully etched into his face is clearly seen, intended to be felt and believed by the viewer. Another technique used is the size in which the artist created the sculpture. When inciting reverence and obedience the artist will create a larger than life artwork, so that the subject is literally and metaphorically looked up to. Being tall is seen as strong and powerful, as it is looked upon and as it fills a greater space, commanding more entitlement. Both Darth Vader and Marcus Aurelius were political leaders within their empires. The methods they used to control their empires, however, was different. Darth Vader was a fascist dictator who used fear to control, Marcus Aurelius used political propaganda to gain trust and respect. Marcus Aurelius' ruling values were embedded in the idea of humanism, the ideology that focuses more heavily on the agency of humans than any deity to gain trust through familiarity and a perceived likeness and relatability. Politically, this is where the two subjects' differ. Darth Vader ruled through dictatorship and fear mongering to oppress the galactic empire. While the bust of Marcus Aurelius' is rooted in the past Dark Father ties the classical to the contemporary with implications of consumerism, the new age of instant gratification and readily accessible content. Star Wars is a large, very popular franchise and a political commentary in some ways itself, the dictatorship of Darth Vader being based on the fascism and genocide at the hands of Adolf Hitler in World War II. Michella Cha (2014) said "there is nothing worse than seeing art and feeling nothing." The beauty of Gulan's work is that he never pushes his beliefs but gives the viewer information to feel however they wish, to go forth and make their own informed decisions. The sculpture Dark Father by Genco Gulan creates and uses the juxtaposition of contemporary pop culture infused with an appropriation of a classical political sculpture to provide an unbiased commentary on the classical roman ideologies used by rulers to gain support and hold power, which can be linked to more recent events of fascism and the way propaganda tools have and are developing as a way of giving the viewer a chance to increase their self awareness and mature the way the viewer sees the world in general.