Fish Rots From The Head

Fish Rots From The Head previously exhibited at my solo exhibition Resist Division in Kyo Gallery in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia through June 2019.

Fish Rots From The Head previously exhibited at my solo exhibition Resist Division at Frame of Mind in West Columbia, South Carolina from December 7, 2018 through January 2019.

Also available in limited edition prints.

Fish Rots From the Head is a companion painting to We Reap What We Sow. The phrase suggests that corruption enters a country through its leaders and filters down to its citizens. This painting reflects my deep concern that we here in America could lose our democracy and our freedom to a dictator.

I was heavily influenced by symbolism growing up as a young adult in Cairo, Egypt. I have created a cache of symbols that I use throughout my work. Here, I use the carnation, a representation of death, rising from the rotting fish to portray that if we allow our leader/government to continue to go unchecked it could potentially bring us ruin.

The height of the fish rising from the ground, the brown color of the carnation’s stem, and the roots in the bottom left-hand corner are all intended to demonstrate time passing and that this leader/government is not suddenly corrupt but rather has been amoral for a long time.

An interesting technique used in this painting is that every line leads the viewer to the fish’s head.