I recently started a new series that I’ve named Art in the Dark. The most stylistic characteristics of this series are that all the works have a different artistic theme, supported by a hyperbolic geometrical concept, and are executed upon a black canvas.
The first installment of this series is called Dancing in the Dark. It restyles a doodle I made for Cyber Dancer, but that I then dismissed in favor for a different design, but could recycle in this design.
Many other artists have explored this theme. Bruce Springsteen wrote this song Dancing in the Dark about his difficulty writing a hit single and his frustration trying to write songs that will please people. His struggles pour out in the lyric “Dancin’ in the dark”, where he feels like a hired gun dying for some action.
You can’t start a fire
You can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancin’ in the dark
Dancer in the Dark is also musical drama film written and directed by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to prevent her young son from suffering the same fate. When a desperate neighbor falsely accuses Selma of stealing his savings, the drama of her life escalates to a tragic finale. It is one of the most painful films I had to endure.
The 2005 novel “Dancing in the Dark” by Kittitian-British writer Caryl Phillips explores the tensions of assuming a false identity which, in a racist society, would be considered the ‘true’ identity of the player. This catches the performer in the double bind of using the actor’s art to confirm prejudices, which then blind their audiences to that art.” The story also deals with “the perils of self-invention, that have long plagued American culture”.
My own take upon the subject is how the lack of a coherent contemporary world vision turns most people into dancers in the dark. Many people respond to that by adapting a nihilistic attitude towards life, society, and environment. Dancing in the Dark wants to inspire people to keep up a positive approach to the reality.
Shaharee Vyaas 