Nature of Business

Over the last month I have been struggling to keep a clear head due to a never ending torrent of bad news. Politically, New Zealand is going through a massive upheaval, due to the fact that our government is clearly making changes that are not to benefit the average New Zealander but the upper business echelon.
People speak out and are ignored.
Worldwide this has been the case, particularly when it comes to the western Governments and their involvement in world wide matters.

For a long time now, I’ve been watching the world slip into a place where business is the sovereign power and countries are corporations. People think they have rights, yet in reality the rights have all been taken away. There is no democracy, only a governing body editing history and inventing laws to suit their own means.
The middle class have become voluntary slaves, unaware and incapable of making change, trapped in a cycle of needing money to pay for a life of needing money.
The end result is war, inequality, hatred, mass depression and a whole lot of people that have the facts, know something needs to change but are faced with the utter futility of it.

So, to get this off my chest I funneled all this into an art piece – ‘The Nature Of Business’
I found it difficult to find a way to communicate how I felt, but found inspiration from that which keeps me calm – my garden.
When I am overwhelmed emotionally by something, I turn to my plants. They are simple, natural, innocent. They grow with love, yet are complex, deliberate and resourceful. I never get sick of looking at them or learning about them.
I found that the laws of nature, if corrupted, could show the law of business. How appropriate.

Part 1 – Consumption:

In this image you have a giant Venus Fly trap trying to consume a person by any means necessary.
Like business it will consume you, the end justifies the means. If you are a businessman, the need to succeed will consume you. All will be lost in your plight to own all; morally, physically, mentally and spiritually.
Likewise, for the victims of business, they are seduced by the advertising, the materialism, others success, money in general and crave something that is never within their reach. They become hollow, empty, depressed, consumed by their vices and ultimately dissatisfied with their existence.
The figure in the lotus represents the person who is self confident and spiritually strong; and needs to battle against the onslaught of negative influence constantly.
This is a never ending battle against ridiculous odds.

Part 2 – Corruption:

The heart and soul of business; the great lie, the spin doctor, the self obsessed.
This figure represents business in the way that power is something that is paraded in all it’s phallicism. Pea-cocking at the mere whiff of an audience. The constant need to enlarge one’s presence, social stature, wealth, physical appearance, and shoot down or trample everyone else in order to have it. This quite often in terms of the wealthy businessman is played out in sexuality, the degradation of women, the exploitation, corruption and manipulation of, women, children, families, minorities, the innocent or uneducated. Also ideas, beliefs, media, law, education, history, discovery, health, technology and science.

The figure represents the pure, the innocent, uncorrupted with a universe of possibilities within reach. But unfortunately, an easy target. Naked and prone to manipulation.

Part 3 – Destruction:

This image is self explanatory. The nature of business is to destroy all to gain maximum wealth. Business hacks away at family values, destroys community, systematically breaks it down through separation, and division through inequality of any type. In order for business to thrive, there needs to be need. The more need the more money can be made. Everything has been turned into a profitable business. The need of the everyday person has become so great that true happiness is completely out of reach for the common person. That futility is an overwhelming emotion for most.

There is the foetus in the centre, which of course represents the future. The future is being surrounded and attacked from all sides – mentally, physically and spiritually by the unholy trinity. This begs the question; what kind of a future is there?

There’s the frustration.
I guess to conclude, I don’t have a concrete answer to all of this. If I did, I wouldn’t be frustrated would I? (laughs)
The one thing I can say is when I’m in my garden, it takes me away from the frustration and brings a moment of clarity.
It gives me a chance to escape from being a snake devouring my own tail.
That in itself is enough to break the futility and bring me back to earth, realising that most of this bullshit isn’t necessary.
If I can find happiness in myself, with myself; in my creativity and with others that enjoy and partake… all the rest is not worth worrying about.