{"product_id":"addiction","title":"ADDICTION","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAcrylic and mixed media on wood panel.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e30x30x1\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat are we becoming?\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eNot just individually, but collectively — as people are increasingly pulled into digital systems designed to capture our attention, predict our behavior, and monetize our emotions.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThis painting was inspired in part by The Death of Marat, the iconic French Revolution painting of the murdered revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat. In his painting, the artist Jacques-Louis David depicts Marat clutching a pen — a symbol of politics, ideology, and communication. In my version, the pen becomes a glowing cellphone. The martyr of \"revolution\" is replaced by the modern citizen, sedated not by violence, but digital dopamine.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThe figure reclines in a vulnerable state, tubes connected to his head and flowing outward into an abstract face that appears to dissolve and fragment. To me, the tubes represent data extraction. Not blood, but identity and possibly humanity.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eLet’s face it. The digital economy runs on our focus.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eWe scroll, shop and socialize on our devices. And all the while, corporations are collecting extraordinary amounts of information — our habits, fears, desires, purchases, beliefs, relationships, sexual orientation and political leanings.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eAttached to the painting are pieces of my old laptop. I wanted the physical presence of technology embedded directly into the work itself, almost like relics or evidence from a civilization in transition and another reminder of how interconnected we’ve become to the digital world. The Amazon box symbolizes the seduction of commerce — the convenience sold to us as progress. One click. One delivery. Faster. Easier. Smarter.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eBut convenience always has a cost.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThe cellphone in the painting glows with a thumbprint icon. A reminder of surveillance tied to bio-metric identity. Our fingerprints unlock our devices, but increasingly they also unlock access to our behaviors, preferences, movements, and private lives.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThe painting is not anti-technology. I use technology every day. Like most people, I benefit from it constantly and I'm somewhat addicted. AI innovation, digital communication, and online tools have enormous potential to improve human life. But I think we are moving so quickly into this new era that we rarely stop to ask deeper questions about what it is doing to us psychologically, socially, and politically.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eWhat happens when entire economies depend on human addiction?\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eWhat happens when loneliness becomes profitable?\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eWhat happens when algorithms learn us better than we know ourselves as the mega tech rich billionaires get richer and richer and RICHER!\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eAnd perhaps most unsettling of all: Who ELSE is watching?\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThat question no longer belongs solely to dystopian fiction in movies. Surveillance is becoming increasingly normalized through both corporate systems and government policy debates. Data collection is no longer just about selling us products; it is also about influence, prediction, control, and power. Around the world — and especially in the United States — conversations about digital surveillance, AI regulation, and data governance are accelerating in real time.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eMeanwhile, many of us continue feeding these systems voluntarily, often unconsciously, because participation has become inseparable from modern life itself.\r\u003cbr\u003e\r\u003cbr\u003eThat is why I used The Death of Marat as a metaphor. Not for literal death, but for a slower erosion — the fragmentation of identity, privacy, stillness, and human connection beneath systems designed to keep us engaged AT ALL COSTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Michelle Neilson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44115861405799,"sku":null,"price":2000.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0063\/3038\/4487\/files\/1_1782595057_54729.jpg?v=1782741396","url":"https:\/\/helloart.com\/products\/addiction","provider":"helloart","version":"1.0","type":"link"}