Original artwork description:

64x84 cm | Filler, oak frame, bottle

The bottle on the top is Tehbotol, an Indonesian ice tea that I purchased on a trip to Bali and kept as a souvenir. Extremely sweet. The shape of the bottle vaguely resembles the image below, in turn looking a bit like the famous outline of a Coca-Cola. As some might remember, the company once upon a time had a campaign called It's the Real Thing. The desire for originality is deeply rooted in our existence. Mechanical reproduction developed alongside industrialism and capitalism as we know it. The loss of authenticity is also at the heart of socialism, according to Marx. The introduction of the commodity challenges even the fabric of reality. Ownership becomes the core connection between the subject and the outside world. But perhaps alienation precedes modernity. As psychoanalytic theory postulates, it is the foundation for self-consciousness. Postmodernism and the digital age's hyper immateriality shows something beyond originality and authenticity - even better than the real thing, as the band U2 sang in the '90s.

Materials used:

Filler (coarse and fine) in oak panel

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