Anyone who’s been paying attention to modern society over the last 10 years can probably agree that our world is degenerating at a steadily increasing pace.
Some would argue that we have made a lot of digital and technological advances, and prominent issues have risen to the surface. However, each day, we hear about the countless instances of greed, hate, violence, and destruction of our world, and all of the pain and suffering that follows.
What’s more frightening is that the ubiquity of these problems makes them seem so normal and common, that we most of us don’t question them.
Meet Al Margen
Al Margen, an artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, creates incredible drawings portraying society as he sees it. Through his intricate illustrations, he drives us to question our reality and the state of our current society.
His thought-provoking images play on real problems like social conditions, family hardships, dualistic orientations, sexism, mental slavery, financial slavery, power, corporation greed, media corruption, and so on.
Although there is something profoundly disturbing about Al Margen’s pieces, what makes them so raw and captivating is that the messages behind them are an eerily accurate representation of society and contemporary culture.
“we allow the media to feed us. By feed us, I mean that in every [mental] way you can think of. We sit back on our couches – no matter where in the world we are and we let the television, the paper, the internet, and even our neighbors who hear everything word-of-mouth – dictate what is true and what is not”
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
1. Selfitis
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.322588467836122.75591.322586834502952/1403880483040243/?type=3
“I do not know what the future will be like. The human being evolves and regresses constantly throughout history. What I do see in the present is that we are becoming slaves to “connectivity.” We have a hard time going without reading notifications or emails.”
2. Media Conditioning
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.322588467836122.75591.322586834502952/1455623897865901/?type=3
3. Circle of Life
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/522196307875336/?type=3
“I do not make money with this, so I do not have someone to tell me what I can publish and what I can not. The themes that I play on within my drawings were not strategically chosen. These are the drawings that I like to draw on the subjects that I like to address. The only censorship is self-censorship.”
4. Big Pharma
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/323936111034691/?type=3
5. Family Troubles
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/323935111034791/?type=3
“The ideas for my drawings come from what I see around me. I also draw about things that happen to me. Many times they criticize me saying that I believe myself to be “superior” for pointing out the mistakes of others. What they do not know is that some of my drawings are autobiographical, a self-criticism.”
6. Concealing
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/323932681035034/?type=3
7. Hidden Motives
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/323930527701916/?type=3
8. Adolescence
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/posts/925005917594371:0
“In the beginning I drew comics. That is, I told a story with several images and in my current illustrations I try to do the same: tell a story, but in a single image. The only thing I have to do is look for the image that best tells that story.”
9. Climbing the Corporate Ladder
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.322588467836122.75591.322586834502952/1302245886537037/?type=3
10. Mental Enslavement
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/posts/1105475856214042:0
“Artists can not do anything. In order for customs to change, society has to change. I do not think that an artist can change the way of thinking of an entire society. I think many factors are needed. But that would have to be explained by a sociologist. Anyway, I do not consider myself an artist or much less want to change the world. I do not have that much ego, I only make drawings.”
11. Border
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/1604960039598952/?type=3
12. Labels
https://www.facebook.com/AlMargenPagina/photos/a.323916561036646.76093.322586834502952/610386669056299/?type=3
“My only project is to continue drawing and share my work. I like it a lot when people comment on them and give their interpretation. In the exchange of ideas, new ideas arise.”
[1] Artificially Organic: Al Margen Talks Art, Society, and Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.insidetherift.net/art/2018/1/23/artificially-organic-al-margen-talks-art-society-and-technology