Democracy on Trial

 

For a long time now I have had Socrate and The Death of Socrates on my mind. When I was young I was briefly exposed to some of his teachings but was distracted with life to make a point to read about him and his teachings in greater depth. When I was exploring art history by myself around 2017 when I stumbled across this painting by Jacques-Louis David. I was surprised to see the philosophy I sorta knew being displayed in such an epic way. At that time and still now I am an abstract painter so it bothered me that I could not paint my own Death Of Socrates. Flash forward to today and I found, in the uni book store, the four dialogues of Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo. I began reading the Crito. Then, about a week or so after I began reading I was giving a photography project. When It was suggested that I base that project on a painting I almost immediately thought about The Death Of Socrates.

Since my early exposure to socrates I have always been wary of the state of democracy in the west. When I discovered the painting it was already abundantly clear that the man in the White House was no friend to democracy. Demagoguery was being amplified to its maximum volume. It's a wonder that Jacques-Louis David presented this painting two years before the French Revolution. The monarchy was in decline at that moment in history and David sought present the idea of Democracy. However, to day, what we call western democracy, seams to be in peril. Out time now is more closely related to Socrates time than it is Davids time. Much like Socrates being on trial for corrupting the youth, democracy is on trial for becoming too "woke". 

And the Sea of Demagoguery wash over the land like a Tsunami.