2020 Vision

2020 was one hell of a year. This artwork is a collage and captures, in my view, the essence of all the major events of the year. We were given 2020 vision into the shadow side of humanity and the view wasn't pretty.

In January, Kobe Bryant, a retired NBA basketball player and his daughter Gigi both passed away in a helicopter crash along with 7 other people. It was a tragedy that shocked many of us. The helicopter above Kobe in the illustration is a tribute meant to honor the pilot and all of the other passengers who passed away in the accident.

In February, just as baseball Spring Training was about to begin, Major League Baseball opened an investigation into the allegations that the Houston Astros or the Trashtros as some baseball fans called them, were illegally stealing signs from opposing teams using a camera system and the banging on a trash can from the dugout to relay those stolen signs to their hitters during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

The smoke billowing out from the trash can represents how hot this scandal was and how it infuriated many teams, players and fans for the Astros cheating, dishonesty and lack of integrity to the game of baseball which is considered part of America’s history, identity, reputation and legacy as “America’s favorite pastime.”

In March, baseball Spring Training came to a sudden screeching halt and the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal seemed like nothing more than an insignificant drop in a bucket when seemingly out of no where the entire world was flipped upside down on it’s head and gripped in the clutches of the Covid-19 pandemic. It seemed like fear had by far been the most infectious virus that had spread and contaminated the hearts of many.

The world entered a quarantine with many people wearing masks and practicing physical distancing as a way to protect themselves and others against this invisible threat. This affected the economy. Many businesses struggled and others had to shutdown completely. The pandemic seemed to come straight from the blazing fires of hell and landed on this planet.

In May, George Floyd, an African-American man died while in police custody sparking outrage, protests and riots around the world against police brutality, especially toward black people. It reignited the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement protesting against incidents of racially motivated violence against black people.

The portrait just above the crowd in the artwork is a half face of George Floyd on the left and a half face of Derek Chauvin on the right who’s one of four officers involved in Floyd’s death. This is meant to represent the racial divide that unfortunately still exists in our society. The crowd is obviously meant to represent the national and international uprising against racial injustice. The protests in response to this incident has been an ongoing event that lasted for months.

In November, the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election took place and all the controversy surrounding it, including President Donald Trump and his lawyer's bizarre post-Election behavior, and blind denial of President-Elect Joe Biden's victory. President Trump's refusal to concede and cooperate with the transition of office and filing dozens of legal challenges in several states as they attempted to reverse the election results which Trump felt was fraudulent, added to the drama.

There was a popular meme that circulated around the internet which asked "Why doesn't Trump wear glasses? Because he already has 2020." This is in reference to Trump and his self-assuredness that the 2020 Presidential Election outcome was already his.

President-Elect Joe Biden’s facial expression in the illustration as he stares off into the distance is meant to express someone in deep thought as he contemplates and wonders about the future of America, the human condition and the fate of humanity in this time of uncertainty with everything that's happened around the world in 2020.

The year 2020 felt like a dumpster fire. It was certainly a very tumultuous year filled with many upheavals and chaos. The cloud of smoke that envelopes the artwork symbolizes how stormy and turbulent of a year it was. It seems like humanity is going through a process of r(E)volution.

I’ve often heard the saying "It’s always darkest before the dawn," which is attributed to Thomas Fuller, an English author, meaning that sometimes things become worse before they get better. Well, here’s to having faith and hope that 2021 and beyond will be much better. Let’s all remain relentlessly optimistic and help each other to make it so.

Human-Made Art (noAI)