Critiquing Babylon: Class Assignment

This oil on canvas painting is called Babylon by Robert Davis and Michael Langlois. It is a painted collage filled with nude people, animals, flowers and objects, all interlaced with an organic twine. One can look at this and immediate see the context of this painting and its correlation with the characteristic of western societies especially the United States.  This piece brings up social and political issues and portrays it in a very beautiful painted comical satire.    

What immediately draws the viewers' attention is the use of various tone of blue and how it all comes together into a symmetrical gradient expanding from the center horizon outward. The blue tone gives the painting a cold and artificial feel. But it is the presented subject in the painting that makes it very interesting. One's attention gets immediately drawn to the naked woman in the center with two commercial airplanes on her back like wings standing on top of a monkey that is standing on a lotus flower which is supported by two overweight individuals on each side.  The naked woman with the airplane wings implies the over-saturation and glorification of sex used in commercial media. the monkey standing and cheering on the lotus flower below the naked woman gives a very comical message like all of this is a big joke.  The two overweight individual at the bottom supporting it all with the Bentley logo in the middle symbolizes the foundation of this country build with the over-indulgence of unhealthy food and unhealthy lifestyle.  

The painting is also divided up between left and right, where right represent the right wing conservative and the left is left wing liberals. Each sides portrays ideas and issues that America is struggling with. On the right side, the conservatives are dealing with foreign affairs, stealing land from other nations and exploiting it for oil. On the left side, the conservatives are dealing with issues with the acceptance of homosexuality and sustainability. And all of this is woven together with "the fabric of our nation" that is held together with Neo-Gothic style architecture in the background.

The overall piece is very successful in creating a profound satirical imagery of America. It brings up serious social and political issues that is in the back of American's mind and present it in a very comical way.  Although it is funny, it makes one truly analyze the currently state of our nation and wonder if this really is how the United Sates really is.