The Pandemic Of Systematic Marionettes Analysis

America is known to be the super power country in the world. We are known by other countries to have a prosperous and well developed country. However, as great as America is there has been conflicting feuds within this country for centuries. One of the main conflicts that America has is the battle between the whites and the colored. Usually feuds happen because there is someone controlling and causing these problems. Brian Kirhagis is an artist in the 21st that heavily portrays his art about the complicated aspects of our society. In one of his works called "The Pandemic of Systematic Marionettes", seems to portray Uncle Sam as the puppeteer controlling the other factors or the system that causes the colored and the white to feud. "The Pandemic
of Systemic Marionettes" shows the pillars in which America has been built upon and the pillars that continue to hold the country up. In this essay I will discuss the meanings of the objects of the visual field and how this image heavily reflects our society today. When we first look at the image the first object of visual field that we immediately see are black and white arm wrestling that seems to be the spotlight of conflicts. Then we can see that the spotlight is shedding on to them based on the diagonal lines coming from Uncle Sam to the the black and white arms. Additionally, we can tell that it is a spotlight based on the contrasting color between the dark hue of the background. Based on the first objects of the visual field that is immediately noticeable, we can depict that this is a battle or a feud between the whites and the blacks. The artist has already set a message based on this object of visual field by depicting a feud that is present without any presentational weaponry or any other objects that defines violence. The arm wrestling that is going on the center of the painting is there to represent the major divide between black and white. If you notice, in the top corners, there are light tones of paint and dark tones of paint. The light tones are where the white arm is, the dark tones are where the black arm is. It's supposed to show the societal default for the black and the white. Going for an image light versus dark
At the top of the painting is Uncle Sam, who is an open personification of the American government and who represents a manifestation of patriotic emotion. He is the marionettist (yes, that's an actual word) of the rest of the painting. This means that Uncle Sam represents the governmental system in America that is set up to fail people of color. The government is controlling the people and pitting us against each other, fueling the hatred that caused the deaths of people like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
On one pillar, you see the world in white on a black book.
This depicts the white history that has been built off of the backs of the black. If you look closely, the eraser on that black book in the lower left says "Colonialism". This is to depict that the idea of colonialism in the world is exploiting and erasing the history of the people in different places. On another pillar, you see microphones that are quite similar to that of a News Reporter. If you look closely, you can see the small drawings of a fox and an eye, representing Fox News and Eyewitness News. Biased news stations that always seems to be exploiting something or someone for a "good" story. On the "floor" in the painting, two babies are seen. One black and one white. They are sitting in each other's company, right below the arm wrestle happening in the middle of the painting. Unknowing of racism, oppression, and hatred. They are just peacefully being which can represent the idea that people are not born believing they are superior to one another, believing in prejudices and hatred. We are taught those things, by people who have been taught them as well. The baby on the right is knocking down one of the pillars with a pencil. The pillar with money, a credit card and an EBT card resting on top. This could represent the economic depression in the black communities around the
country.
On one of the pillars on the left, a badge and handcuffs lay at the top.
This symbolizes not only the massive amount of police brutality throughout America, but the weight that the police hold in society. In the background, other pillars can be seen with a location point and some representations of media. By using the media as a pillar, BK is trying to convey that a vast majority of opinions have been swayed by the media. In addition, BK is saying that we live in an age where media is such a big deal that everybody relies on it. It's one of the pillars in every community, not just select ones. By using movies and sports specifically, Kirhagis shows that even the media is divided. When you think of sports, you think of football and basketball. He specifically used a football, a predominantly black sport. By using movies, he is specifically using a predominantly white profession, both depicting strong racial
divides.
Overall, the painting represents how the people of America are just puppets of the government, constantly being controlled by the media, police, economy, history, and exploitation of themselves. But they are so blinded by it that they don't even see the puppeteer, they are only focused on annihilating anything outside of their comfort zones, anything different, anything that the government puts against them. Only, they're not realizing that the system is set up this way, so they're blaming the same things that the country is built upon and is using to control them.