Unamused II: Bread and Circuses

Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt

- Juvenal (circa 60-140)

Unamused II, 2025

Circus and carnival imagery has become prevalent in my artwork. When something keeps reoccurring, I try to dig down deep within myself to understand why. I may never truly understand my own work, but I can try.

In the midst of 2020-2021 COVID shutdowns, I became more and more fascinated with this imagery. It has both a light and a dark side - I almost see it like an allegory for the world. It can be pure fun, joyous and bright, childlike and nostalgic. But it can also be dark, fear-and-panic-inducing, and confusing.

In 2021, I created an oil painting of a girl surrounded by circus imagery and animals. It is bright pink and cartoonish, inspired by the Pop Surrealism art genre and especially Mark Ryden. I titled it “Unamused,” since it was during COVID-19 shutdowns and a lot of other intense news events. It felt like the world was a circus, and I got really tired of reacting in fear to everything. I was fresh out of college - I just wanted to do something with my life and my art finally! But I was supposed to pay attention to all of these bright things - either distraction from the heavy stuff, or the actual bad news itself.

Unamused, 2021

The quote at the top of this article explains part of my fascination. Without going into the context and history of it, the Roman poet was referring to the way that human beings can be easily distracted from the important things of life. I don’t want to be distracted, though.

This new work is titled “Unamused II” as a nod to that first painting, when my fixation with carnival and circus imagery began. To me, this new one is about staying cool and calm among chaos (something I am actually very bad at). I want to be steadfast in uncertainty and have no fear because I know that God is in control. This drawing was made from my recent method of making paper collages - though I did change the face digitally. Originally it felt like Jenna Ortega fit in the scene, but in the end, I didn’t want the drawing to be about her (especially since she is a celebrity in a cultures that promotes these distractions).

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.”

-Isaiah 8:12

It might sound like I’m disowning all mass media and culture (to be honest sometimes I do want to just be a hermit in the woods), but that’s not it at all. God calls us to be in the world but not of the world (1 John 2:15, John 15:18-19). I hope the gaze of the woman in this drawing conveys her intensity and steadfastness, and that the other pieces of the collage represent the unseen certainty we have as Christ as our Savior even among chaos and distraction. (Notice her necklace, and the name of the ride in the lower left corner.)

If you love this work and want to bring it into your home, click here for availability.