This sculpture, Love, is Alexander Milov's debut art piece for the Burning Man Festival. This is a reflective art piece because the sculpture calls into question of how one is to truly "discover one's genuine self in a media-saturated world" [1]. Not only is the sculpture itself sends a message to its audience, but the material that is used to create the sculpture is also part of the message as well.

      The shoulders of these two adults, give off the impression of being burdened by the weight of the world – "slumped in anguish and despondency" [1]. These adults represent the independence and solitude that comes along when one enters adulthood. The purpose of using rebars (a material that is created in the modern industrial world) to create the cages, is to represent how our current society has created this cage to trap our inner selves in for each individual. These cages are metaphors to society's standards that are set upon us that ends up burdening our souls and ultimately limiting our lives. The societal values give us distress as they are success, prestige, and independence and societal values are expected to be fulfilled first over one's own standard of themselves.

      The transparent sculptures of the kids are also interactive with their environment. The sculptures begin to glow as its surroundings get darker – as the day turns into night. Milov's intentions behind this art and technology collaboration of having the statues sense its environment are so that the glowing statues symbolize the inner child that is within each adult – sincerity, purity, and innocence that is naturally part of each individual. It is also what causes one's need to connect with someone during times of distress, which is represented by the dark environment.

      Furthermore, Milov's usage of contrasting materials for both the adults and the children is to point out the difference in the mindset that the adults and the kids have. The incorporation of raw industrial materials, rebars, to create the adults give the viewers a feeling of "a cold, rigid environment" [1]. Whereas for the children, the transparent materials and the glowing technology gives off this warm feeling that is part of a welcoming environment for its spectators. The glow from the children is also able to radiate its warm and welcoming feeling much further away and in many different directions (symbolism for open-mindedness and acceptance), unlike the rebars that are used for the adults which are very limited to where it is placed (a mind that is set in its ways and stubborn to change). This clearly illustrates how the fundamental needs that humans have of feeling connected to one another and looking out for each other, will always win over being restrained by the high and stressful demands of our rapidly growing modern society that teaches us to be competitive individuals.

Works Cited:

[1] “Alexander Milov – Love Essay,” Art, Identity, and Culture: (Re)Interpellations, accessed February 12, 2019, http://reinterpellations.web.unc.edu/about/alexander-milov-love/ and http://reinterpellations.web.unc.edu/about/alexander-milov-love/alexander-milov-love-essay/.

[2] “Love: A Project by Alexander Milov,” Dioniso Punk, accessed February 24, 2019, https://dionisopunk.com/2017/10/02/love/.

Comments:

Super awesome work of art, I was instantly captivated by how cool this concept is. Maybe the inner child could also be a metaphor for genuine curiosity and hopefullness to interact with the beauty in the world… idk just a thought? Super dope post all together. Only thing id change is either the size of the image or add another image/video to supplement this, as I'd love to see more of the actual work of art! -Jack Kennedy

Great artwork, this piece also looks like it represents how the relationship is and so much they have gone through but also how much they have known each other as you could see by the connection of the little children inside of them. Maybe add some video to the artwork so we could see different angels of the artwork, and possible have the artist talk about the artwork in their own words and what gave them the inspiration about it. Maybe also tie in some other artwork they have created that is similar to this artwork as well. – Jose Rojas