The Silent Sentinel
Art reflects a shared conscience and understanding.
In “emi mi” I switch from flowing gesture to firm geometry, using the cool poise of mid-century science fiction as atmosphere rather than subject.
While “The Day the Earth Stood Still” centres on Klaatu—the messenger—my focus is destructive force: Gort, the mute power that enforces the warning. This piece does not depict or reproduce any character or image from that film; the reference is conceptual.
The Abstraction of the Enforcer
An irregular silver monolith commands the field. This is not formal portraiture, rather a distillation: visor, eye, shield. I rarely embrace strict forms, yet to convey a cosmic arbiter the organic yields to rigid structure. The silver plane intrudes with order, dominating the canvas.
Oversight of Human Entropy
Though the style nods to mid-century sci-fi and modern abstraction, the story is present tense. Klaatu arrives to assess; Gort stands ready to act. Here, the silver mass is a celestial oversight of man-made harm. Surrounding bands—oxidised copper, burning gold, bruised violet—signal extraction, scorched habitats, pollution and the dull red of conflict. Hard demarcations: cold corrective logic set against heated disorder.
The Weight of the Ultimatum
Silence is the threat. This presence sees not argument or contention; it measures. Metallic impasto reflects actions. The painting is a study in accountability: by reducing the “enforcer” to a single dominant shape, it asks whether a civilisation can survive its own inventions—or face the consequence of the silent sentinel.
Who or what is the silent sentinel to you?
Is it purpose, chance or cause and effect?
Title Note:
‘emi mi’ fuses EMI (electromagnetic interference) and MI (machine intelligence) with linguistic echo of the self. Succinctly referencing “Mi” iconography as a superscript while the lower-right “M” signature is dually stylised as the human presence to whom the geometric form inclines for direction.
The Unfathomable Artist 