‘PARADISE’ by Dutch company Studio Smack is a contemporary reinterpretation of the iconic Hieronymus Bosch’s painting ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights,’ Rendered in spectacular 4K animation, the video is based on the central panel of the famous triptych. And it has it’s contemporary interpretation suitable for the hectic, 21century world – full of levitating astronauts, three legged drooling heads, CCTV-headed crows, huge slithering mouth-snakes — there is an almost endless abundance of imagery on which to gorge.
“The creatures that populate this indoor playground embody the excesses and desires of 21st century western civilization’, explains the studio. ‘Consumerism, selfishness, escapism, the lure of eroticism, vanity and decadence. all characters are metaphors for our society where loners swarm their digital dream world. They are symbolic reflections of egos and an imagination of people as they see themselves – unlike Bosch’s version, where all individuals more or less look the same.’
The animation was originally commissioned by the Stedelijk Museum Breda for its exhibition ‘New Delights’, a celebration of the painting’s 500 year anniversary.
