When we compare Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol's era with the 21st Century, we're compelled to be flabbergasted at how sublime they've made the art world as they both challenged what was considered 'art', our hunger for consumerism, our idolization of certain people/objects, and particularly Andy's view that "everyone will be famous for 15 minutes"; we have to acknowledge the metaphorical kaleidoscope they've given our culture because it debunked the seriousness of the art world and embraced the use of hard edge, bursting with light and color techniques; this is what initially inspired me to become an artist and more particularly, to describe my artistic intent as "Nuclear Pop".
"Nuclear Pop" is a metaphor I use to describe people, society, and culture, and it is also a critique and observation in the anxious times that we live in. It's awkward to realize that a single bomb can obliterate an entire metropolis, and yet it can serve mankind in an efficient energy-creating manner. What a paradox. Of the weapons that have been used and the footage that has been captured of such monumental explosions, I am awestruck at how bright these blasts are, and this is where such visuals become sublime.
This inspiration becomes a technique that uses contrast to shadow and indicate the features of a person, place, or object-almost as if a magnificent flash of light ignited before them-and this is where the visual and conceptual approach sheds light (pardon the pun) on my modus operandi and the core meaning of Nuclear Pop. Some of my subject matter appears to be present and when examined more closely, it appears to be fading gradually, almost as if represented by the radioactive decay process every material object endures. With this technique, you're accessing people and objects from my interpretation of what it would be like to view them on a nuclear landscape-in other words, they're fading in and out of reality-and a question that has always disturbed/inspired me is: where do we go when we expire from our physical experience if energy can neither be created nor destroyed? Of course, a mere simple answer is far too complex and the answers are just as subjective and unique as a person's own fingerprints. For me, however, the physical and the metaphysical explanations of what we're doing here on this place we call Earth is for me, a major paradox.
Creating my art allows me the chance to give this paradox a little pinch of validation while at the same time, it allows me to embrace the handfuls of awe and wonder I've always had in regards to our physical experience.
-Sean Cannon
