I know it's long, but if you're interested in the ideas behind the art, please read on!
I recently wrote a paper on the piece "Price Tag" by , as can be seen here: [link]
Following is an in-depth analysis. I'm proud to say that he has read and approves of it



“Here are a number of different size atomic bombs. [...] If they are expertly spread out, you'll find we get really complete coverage of all humanity. In other words, the capability to kill all humanity in half an hour” - excerpt from “The World Game - Earthian's Critical Moment” live lecture notes by Buckminster Fuller



Humanity has progressively pushed itself into newer and newer frontiers with the advent of the technological revolution, and the age of invention that followed it. While some artists have shunned this truth, others have chosen to wholeheartedly embrace it - And amongst them, a young Russian painter, named Vitaly Samarin Alexius.

In my interview with him, i learned that the relationship between technology and art is a simple one. Technology is just a means to an end: “[...] digital art is just a different medium- art is constantly evolving and its impossible to keep its evolution down. As our tools evolve, so does the medium.”. And so, i learned, does the subject.

The unique style in which he draws his post apocalyptic paintings is called “Dreaminism”, and in a sentence, it represents the “romantically apocalyptic dreams of the 21st hour, at the dawn of the twenty second century”. Technology has allowed humanity to advance in beautiful, and dangerous, ways... and Alexius seeks to be a prophet of this evolution.

In a first part, we will be discussing the general visual impact of the painting, as well as broadly exploring the expressive qualities of the work such as its narrative ability and metaphorical nature. In a second part, we will dissect and analyze the work for the specific expressive elements which Alexius has used to convey the emotional content. In a third part, we will take a step back from the work to place it in the greater context of the artist’s life, and explore how factors external to the work have played a part in shaping it. And finally, i will describe how all of the topics previously covered have helped shape my view of the painting, and describe my personal emotional response when faced with it.

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There is no doubt that the work in question, “rice Tag” is a highly emotive and expressive piece - Dreaminism is, by default, characterized by powerful post-war and apocalyptic scenery, portraying images of desolation and decay that are close to the human psyche. In this particular image, the world is portrayed as desolated, interrupted only by the presence of a strange masked figure and what would appear to be his female companions, one dying or dead, and the other in agony. Could this be a metaphor of the tie between nature - represented by nakedness, a woman in her natural state - and technology, represented by the corporate suit and gas mask? The image presupposes nature to be in bondage of technology, and the state of the urban environment surrounding them is then oddly appropriate in its dead barrenness: One could say the digital painting contains a very important narrative quality that goes beyond mere aesthetic interest, and offers an experience with high extrinsic value to those who take the time to analyze it.

Despite being an artwork that directly bombards the viewer with a very raw and powerful emotional imagery, Price Tag also contains a rich network of semi-hidden symbolic elements that contribute to the expressiveness of the piece:
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Indeed, Price Tag abounds with symbolic meaning: what are the elements that bring forth this expressive quality?

The women are, of course, a focal element that play on several different important aspects. Their nakedness, as briefly described above, is due to their being a representation of the natural state. It also connotes the seeming fragility of these once-lithe figures. Women furthermore have a long standing history of being a major subject in most male artists’ works, not necessarily as a faithful representational model, but as a “spectacle and symptom, becoming the passive object of a male gaze”. Art critic Arthur Danto qualifies this imagery under various imaginary persona that he simply calls “The Girl”. In this case, Danto may qualify Alexius’ female characters as “The Broken Girl”, and we should pay particular attention to what this “broken” female persona communicates.

The mask is a potentially easily overlooked symbolic element. While many may be tempted to simply categorize the usage of such headwear as an artistic whim to create a sense of horror, its presence in fact reveals much about the character who wears it. Masks have been present in a variety of cultures and ages throughout the world, and almost unanimously, they represent an image of power and mystery. Take for example the ancient mayan cultures, in which the primitive art of face decoration extended to the creation of battle masks for the warrior members of their hierarchy. Or more recently, in south American boxing, or simply bank robbery attempts. This gas mask then, already reminiscent of war by its very nature, is an extension of that aura onto this figure representing technology - it is not just a man whose identity is hidden, but a symbol of domination and fear.

Another important element of this painting is in fact an absence: the absence of life outside of the three centered characters. Despite being an urban landscape with skyscrapers - an environment highly supportive of high human density - it is absolutely desolate. There is no chaos, but a quiet, sombre serenity, which emphasizes the symbolic nature of the people present. Upon making this observation, the viewer then realizes that the narrative quality of this painting resides not in its aesthetic portrait of three characters amidst an urban wasteland, but instead, on the wasteland as a consequence of the presence of these symbolic characters.

In a more straightforward way, Alexius also employs meta-symbolism, that is, a play on the symbolic nature of symbols: Against one of the buildings in the top right of the image, one can see a decrepit CNN logo. CNN, as a world spanning news network, is also a symbol of massive corporate power and information. The apparent ruin and off-center placement of the logo would imply the failure of mass media in its role of predicting this post-apocalyptic landscape. We will keep this in mind at the moment, as i will further explore the importance of this finding in a further section of this paper.

From a more technical point of view, one can also analyze the intrinsic qualities of the painting to derive meaning from it: the highly desaturated colors create a stark contrast to the red thread that binds the characters together. Returning to the hypothesis of technology’s triumph over nature, the color red takes on a new significance as the color of blood and warfare: is it through war that technology has progressively suffocated one element of nature, while holding the other in suffering? Or is the red color in conjunction with the thread a representation of the Chinese concept of the red thread of fate, irrefutably linking the two elements together in a way that they belong to each other? One could extrapolate that it is then not a “Master - Slave” relationship that is being portrayed, but rather the suffering of the female element being due only to the cruel nature of the technology to which she is bound. This again is another important point to be kept in mind, and which will be further discussed in the next section of the paper.

Another intrinsic element to be explored lies in the ethereal, vague linework that constitutes the background of the image. I must clarify that it is not a restriction set by the medium: digital art can in fact produce seamless color blending and sharp lines with far more ease than traditional mediums (This can in fact be seen on the characters themselves). The vagueness must then be interpreted as a conscious choice on the part of the artist. The ethereal feeling given by these broad, uneven digital strokes, is in conflict with the photo-realistic representation of the work’s characters, and this serves a twofold purpose: Firstly, it allows the viewer’s attention to focus on what Alexius considers the important elements of the painting. Secondly, it creates a loose frame around the landscape - he is not referring to a particular city, but rather drawing our attention to the fact that this vague urban landscape is universal. This again strengthens the proposed initial hypothesis, as technology and urbanity have also triumphed over nature’s landscapes, and not just its persona.
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To understand a work, one must also understand the artist and his intentions. Vitaly S. Alexius is a young artist, but with a powerful focus. One would think, from the analysis of the painting so far, and his other post-apocalyptic images, that he is adverse to technology. Isn’t it then ironic that his medium is the digital realm? To clarify, i have conducted an interview with him, as well as delved through other previous interviews to find out the aim of his works.

Alexius grew up in Soviet Russia, in the ‘science city’ of Akademgorodok, in Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia. It was the ideal balanced green yet urban environment:

“[The city] had a surprisingly clear notion about green architecture as universities, roads and buildings were encased in deep forests with a web of gravel paths interconnecting buildings. I camped and hiked daily on these paths, right outside my apartment building. Walk far enough and all civilization will disappear, and before you, nothing but a green ocean as far as the eye can see, [...].” -excerpt from 3DTotal artist association interview, by Alexius


He then moved to Toronto, Canada to further his studies, where he was faced with man’s triumph over his habitat: a “well maintained, confined, and controlled nature”, where the environment was encased in steel, glass and concrete, completely separated from its initial natural state. While one might be tempted to think that Alexius himself is averse to technology, the truth of the matter is that he sees both good and bad in it: It is a powerful and flexible medium for art, has helped in the creation of man’s greatest achievements, and “greatly simplified and improved human life”. But on the other hand, it is also the creator of unnamable horrors, such as atomic and biological weaponry. The red thread of fate that links technology with nature thus need not be a constrictive one, but one of balance, just as the science city of Akademgorodok combined the best of both worlds. However, it is more often the case that humanity overlooks the needs of nature, and solely concentrates on fulfilling the technological agenda.

Alexius speaks of his work in saying: “I bring to my viewers, visions of the future that will inevitably come to pass if mankind’s planet-wide industrial machine isn’t adjusted in time. [...]I have seen science fail and unleash death, [...] the destructive power of man.”. As seen in the painting, the decrepit CNN logo is an ironic message to the mass media that not having these issues at heart will come full circle and lead to a destruction of self. Alexius feels that in the face of mass media’s failure to lead, part of his role as an artist is to help propagate awareness of this progressive and destructive self-fulfilling prophecy that the world is engaging in.
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In light of all that we have explored in regards to the work, i will share my own emotional response to the piece. It’s a very powerful work, full of connotations and subtle imagery, and i feel a deep empathy for it. Myself coming from the background of a family who places very high importance on the power and pioneering spirit of technology, this piece has made me rethink the consequences of our quick advancement. As mentioned in the opening statement of this paper, Fuller’s quote really raises awareness of the fact that now, on this very day, the world could technically come to an end as we know it, covered in nuclear clouds. The world could transform from a vibrant metropolis of cultures into a deserted, barren unnatural state.

The painting is, in a way, a deeply disturbing realistic outlook on our future-to-be if we do not seek to reconcile the balance between nature and technology. In turn, i feel that the painting gives a very raw, emotional feeling that helps me realize just how fragile the world we live in is. Art has, in the past, been very often used to describe the world as it is, why not in this case predict it as it may be? The first time i laid eyes on the painting, i simply thought: “breathtaking”. I saw it as a work with an exclusively intrinsic value, and powerful captivating imagery and lights. But through the exploration of the piece, my appreciation of the work has been raised as i was able to see beyond a beautiful image, and see this masterpiece of visual communication and art. Following my emotional response has thus increased both my understanding and appreciation of the work tremendously.
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We have taken a beautiful image, discussed its expressive qualities and explored the different elements which came together to compose the artwork: The significance of the women as representations of nature, and the man as technology. The mask, absence of life, red thread of fate, meta-symbolism and even the universality of the background through virtual textured strokes. We have taken that dissected image, and tested the hypothesis against the will of its author only to find a match in priorities, and confirmed the intention of the work as a tool of visual communication and not just an intrinsically beautiful image.
Romanticism is a genre that has gradually lost its popularity in the 20th and 21rst centuries to be replaced by the various forms of pop art. And while i agree that society has developed and the arts should evolve alongside, Dreaminism is a promising new platform of neo-romanticism and surrealism merging together. As of yet, it is still relatively unknown, but art must pay its cost in time: after all, everything has a price tag.