For some time, I have been toying with the idea of us, as human beings, becoming more connected to inanimate objects like mobile phones- and further away from each other. I find it extremely irritating when I am having dinner with someone, or just spending time, and they won’t stop looking at their bloody device. I am guilty of doing it too, well only when it is absolutely necessary… I digress… All this connectedness and we use those same devices we use to connect to each other, to push each other away.

 

These same devices ironically bring as closer together than ever before in the history of the human race, via social media and the internet. No, it’s not a contradiction. Well kind of… There is this sensation of always being switched on. Turned on, tuned in. Whether it is your mobile phone, your iPad, tablet, lap top, desk top or whatever other electronic gadget there is out there, we all seem to be connected to some “thing,” 24/7. Some people I know even go to bed with their phones. I am not kidding. I know I sleep with my phone very close to my bed.

 

Things are getting so strange for me that I am starting to feel like I am permanently connected to an actual entity. A living, breathing thing, which is plugged into all of us permanently though our devices. These devices we do not seem to be able to live without. I imagine this entity as an organic blob which feeds off of us via invisible umbilical cords which plug into our minds and bodies. We are like human USB ports. The devices plug in and we download or upload whatever we want- and sometimes don’t want, day in, day out.

 

I have sketched several ideas which relate to this. If you have seen any of my sketches from last year, you will no doubt have seen this cord connecting people and seemingly inanimate objects like buildings, time and time again. I can’t get these images out of my head. I dream about the damn things. I see them when I am watching people, in my mind.

 

I am interested in how all of this connectedness is affecting our human relationships. Overall, how does it affect how we relate to each other?  We can keep tabs on old friends in different countries and make “friends” with complete strangers. We can get validation for the things we post from friends and strangers alike when they hit that “like button.”

 

I will explore these ideas more and more this year through drawings and paintings.

This is a memory sketch I did of a reference photo from a drawing site I am a member of. I studied the photo for some time and then attempted to copy the pose from memory. It is a fun exercise and a great way to train the visual memory. This drawing was completed at 11.45pm on the 31st of December 2013. Happy New Year! 🙂