Life in Death Only [Monday]

Life in Death Only [Monday]

This is the beginning, Act 1.  We meet our protagonist, Viaggiatore Umberto Herr or simply Mr. V.U. Herr.  Over his left shoulder we see a crescent-shaped construction of smaller overlapping objects.  The shape in which these objects are collected suggests the shape of the Moon, thus suggesting immortality and eternity of this tale, the struggle of a human soul.  It also suggests the move from Mr. Herr’s conscious to his subconscious.  The Moon, also being a symbol for the soul, tells us from the very beginning this series is about the absolution of one’s soul, hence Trojan Soul.

These abstract objects are references to our physical world.  Among these objects we can recognize trains, bridges, specific locations, geometric shapes, atom bomb, family, lovers; however, the overlapping of objects suggests that the citizens of this world are literally on top of each other.  Rather than living in harmony, they are living disconnected lives.  The abstraction of these objects suggests to the viewer that Mr. Herr’s current location is perhaps a subconscious landscape.  He has left the “real,” physical world behind, and metaphorically entered through the portal/door frame into an inner, subliminal world.

Since Monday marks the beginning of Mr. Herr’s odyssey, the panorama has an echo of something prehistoric.  This connection to human history becomes synched with the temporal span within a 7-day structure.

Mr. Herr opens his eyes bringing forth into creation a universe in which this entire series takes place.  His presence in this pre-human beginning might even suggest that Mr. Herr himself could be God.  God in his own creation, made in his own image, bound only by constraints of his own imagination.  

As he touches the ground, a force emerges.  The force is a red liquid that alludes to the creation and the commonalities we all share.  Additional connections to the color red are Sun, passion, love, and lust. All possible reasons for such journey.  Red has an additional meaning.  When an object is moving away from an observer, the light frequency turns red, thus giving that object a red glow.  This is known as Red Shift in physics.  However, when that object is coming towards the observer, it gives off a blue glow (spoiler alert!).  

Besides being a metaphorical allusion to the travel between a conscious and subconscious world, wooden doorframe also suggests the origin of our protagonist.  Through the doorframe we see deep, flat darkness, which suggests the absolute nothingness before the Creation, before the Big Bang – the beginning and the end occupying the same space simultaneously.  

As the protagonist is staring into the distance, a single word passes his lips, AUM. According to Hindu belief, this is the sound of God.  It is the sound of primal energy, and of the universe itself.  Building on this idea of a god creating the universe, we can see the creation of life on Earth.  On the far right, there is a circle, and within that a life is forming in the sea.  This hints again to the creation of life, suggesting Mr. Herr is a God of his own world.  

Couple of other things worth mentioning are his absence of ears and his rather large feet.  The former is to emphasized the idea that Mr. Herr is not a real person.  Even his basic physic is different, not quite normal.  He bares a slight resemblance to the Easter Island monolithic statues and their enigmatic gaze.  Also the reference of looking over a population as to protect generations to follow.  All is echoes in Mr. Herr’s face.

His large feet suggest the direction he must take is set.  He has to take this road of discovery, of eventual redemption.  He might be reluctant; however, he has to choice.  Mr. Herr's color is very flat, matte, and important clue in a later stage.

Also important to notice are the black circles in the lower right corner.  Some of them will become the reoccurring little figure with gold eyes (a symbol for Mr. Herr, letters ODC or odyssey).

Life in Death Only [Monday] - detail