Future

ContestLimited Edition

In my image of 2120, the cult of individualism would have progressed to the point where people have little to no interest in forming couples or being in romantic relationships. They are stuck between their instinctive need for love and the desire to protect their personal space. Unwillingness to compromise followed by a lack of emotional intelligence might put family institutions at the edge of extinction.

I envisioned a future where gender is now irrelevant. Colors usually associated with 'typical' gender roles are used on the two front characters, while the third one is a mix of the two. The three characters also share the same genderless look and attributes. I wanted their composition to evoke the shape of a club.

'Ambassadors from different countries are admitted to the residence of the king' — one of the values of the 5 hearts that I found. This metaphor can mean the need for humanity to accept distinct life forms as equal or even superior. What if in the future, artificial intelligence will develop the capacity for empathy and love? How will they see the difference in the level of consciousness between humanity, the animal and plant world, and themselves. And what will they feel about it? Perhaps the roles may change.

My main concern for the future is about what will happen with our feelings or emotions. How will the robots, artificial intelligence, medical advances, or smart cities affect us as humans? How we gonna feel living with those changes? I used that concept for my piece and especially playing with the 7 Hearts card, which it has the most significant symbols for me: the red color and the heart. I created a kind of cloned hearts, with a “high tech” look but without losing the human feeling. Using only the color red representing the passion and love (the most important emotions) and also the blood color, which is literally our indicator of life. I like to be as abstract as possible in my work, using symbolic elements like the heart or the colors and giving to the people the chance to interpret the final meaning of the piece.

'Please don't forget to recharge your mask and update your heart before you leave your underground shelter'. The topic of the new deck is the future. I decided to make a romantic illustration showing preparations before going to a date.

People living in the rhythm of a progressive 21st century often remember events of the past, where everything seemed to be simple and clear. While creating this illustration, I was inspired by the ideas of retrofuturism. I'm sure that in the future there will be muscle cars, rock-and-roll and minutes for fun too. I would like to see the future with optimism.

We are developing very rapidly, new technologies and science are replacing centuries-old traditions. Asian countries are now setting the rhythm for the whole world, this is endless development. Along with progress, we are losing spirituality and all that was so important to us just 100 years ago. This is not to say that this is bad, it is part of evolution and just one more page from the book of humanity.

It is 2020 and we are at a crossroads. The decisions we now make as individuals and as societies will define the world a hundred years later. It will not be easy to make good and wise decisions to save our world. Perhaps the future lies in a simpler and poorer life, but in harmony with life-giving nature. Or maybe the future will lead us to the brink of extinction and nature will live only in our memories.