“Addiction”

The image transitions from the safe, smooth, pleasant colors on the left side, symbolizing life before addiction, through the painted bottle, into the sharp, dangerous, fragmented pieces on the right, symbolizing overindulgence and devastating effects of drugs and alcohol.

The artist poses a question to the viewer – “Do you control your addiction, or does the addiction control you?”… and everyone will answer in a different way. This piece isn’t about judgment, it’s about awareness, understanding the situation you’re in, and reaching for help. The bottle is front and center, it can’t be ignored. You have a choice – safety or danger.

It’s a piece that’s emotionally challenging as well as complex from the art & engineering standpoint. It’s also especially relevant to one of the issues that people don’t like to discuss – the prescription opiate epidemic that’s claimed the lives of far too many promising young people in our community. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away.

The choices of media in this work are highly specific.

The symbolic wine bottle was selected because there’s a perception in society that “things are OK in small doses”. But sometimes, that occasional glass of wine becomes a daily glass of wine, then a daily bottle, then shots of whiskey. Or the pain relief pill after surgery becomes a bottle of pills, refill after refill, until it’s time for rehabs and hospitals. There’s danger in every addictive substance, even if it’s commonly used and socially acceptable.

Glass symbolizes transparency. An addict thinks they’re outsmarting everyone, and they may succeed for a time. But for those who care about them, addiction and its effects are as clear as glass. Fragmenting the glass and carefully placing it on the painting, piece by piece, was reminiscent of the myriad ways that life has to change when someone you love is in the grip of a terrible dependency. The normal ways are broken, and you have to re-assemble them, one moment, one minute, one day at a time.

Colors transition from the happy euphoric yellows and pinks, to the dark blue and purple, echoing the cycles of euphoria and depression that an addict goes through… and the hopes and disappointments of those around them. The yellow area half-filled with broken glass is a metaphor for being broken even if you’re “in the sunshine”.

The cork on top is made from real cork, for an additional 3D textural touch. The label is custom-printed, with the Carmona tree and references to my ancestral home, the city of Carmona in the Andalusia region in the south of Spain. The date, 2019, memorializes the year my daughter passed away after battling the pharmaceutical demons for a decade.

The piece is executed on a 36” x 60” x 2.5” deep board. The sides are finished, so it can be displayed with or without a frame.

I recommend adding a partition or shield, to keep viewers from touching the broken glass.

A dangerous subject deserves a dangerous work of art.

Touch it carelessly, and it will cut you.

Just like addiction.