Arcadia

"Oh. Wow. Wow. Wow." And then. He died. (Steve Jobs, 2011). A modern interpretation of "The Arcadian Shepards" by Nicolas Poussin in 1637/38, the most mysterious creation of the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style. “Arcadia” is a poetic shaped place – a vision of harmony with nature, related to “Paradise" or "Utopia". The inhabitants of this region bear an obvious connection to the figure of the noble savage, both being regarded as living close to nature, uncorrupted by civilization. I exchanged the greek setting against against snow-capped mountains and deep-blue lakes and replaced the anonymous shepherds for Jesus, Sokrates, Confucius and Toni Morrison. Then, motion turns on the wheel of life & death. The thomb inscript reads “Et In Arcadia Ego”, which was often interpreted as Poussin indicating that even in paradise, there is death. Facing the unavoidable – with fear or love, the ethereal question of "what it means to live a good life", comes into play. A reflection of our western society in 2020. A celebration of a few different ideas & timeless philosophies that exist already. Some of them, influencing our culture, hearts and minds, but also our wars, for thousands of years already. While, strangely enough, the most powerful concepts often remain overlooked. Digital painting: Claudie Linke, 2020. Animation: Claudie Linke, 2021. Music: Arcadia. Composed by Claudie Linke, 2021. 1 NFT + 1 Video Print + 1 secret, hand-written letter sent to the collector (There is another, more private layer to this creation. I will share this story with the collector). Motion Picture Format: - Compressed for SuperRare: 50Mb, 2.500x1.756px. - Original: 5K! 5.000×3.512px. Watch in better quality & bigger size: https://vimeo.com/501586883