Roll With It 2017

Curator: What a trip! It's unsettling but electrifying all at once. Editor: We're looking at Beeple's "Roll With It" from 2017, a captivating example of digital art that throws you headfirst into a cyberpunk-esque cityscape. Curator: Yeah, headfirst is right. I feel like I’m staring into some alternate reality New Year's Eve after a zombie apocalypse. The city’s in ruins but, hey, at least there are fireworks! It’s so contradictory, almost sarcastic. Editor: The visual tension is certainly striking. Beeple's work often plays with these contrasting elements, commenting, I think, on our potential future. We see this destroyed urban landscape bathed in neon light, with clear pop and neo-pop art influences. This approach invites us to think about the spectacle even amidst decay, right? Is the celebration real, or is it masking something darker? Curator: Masking for sure! Like putting glitter on a dumpster fire. The colours, those hyper-saturated pinks and blues, they're gorgeous but also scream artificiality. It's like nature’s been Photoshopped out of existence, and we're left with this synthetic sensory overload. I wonder, is this how future generations will process trauma—a constant barrage of hyper-stimulation to drown out the silence? Editor: Perhaps. Beeple definitely uses those aesthetics to critique contemporary society's obsession with technology, with spectacle replacing substance. Digital art as a medium also raises interesting questions here— the endless reproducibility, the easy dissemination... Curator: Right. Everyone gets a front-row seat to the apocalypse! It's dark humor at its finest. But beneath the surface, the piece sparks an odd hope too. I mean, humans are pretty resilient, even when facing oblivion. Maybe we'll still find a reason to light up the sky, even if the ground beneath us is crumbling. Editor: Indeed. It prompts a crucial dialogue about our priorities, doesn’t it? "Roll With It" forces us to acknowledge our potential trajectory and contemplate what, truly, deserves celebration and preservation. Curator: In the end, I keep coming back to how beautifully twisted it is. How we crave some kind of light even at the brink. Editor: A vibrant image indeed.