How much do we depend on machines? In his new series of works, Romanian painter Victor Fota explores the “Human Extension,” meaning the relationship between human beings and machines. He uses oil paint as he works with colours and shapes. The paintings in this project are not brightly coloured or joyful, but instead show a muted look into machines as extensions of human beings. In many of the works, it is not even clear what the painting suggests, but there is always a feeling that metal is present. It is not clear if the works suggest the role of machines in our world is good or bad, instead Fota leaves it to the viewer.
What role do machines have in your life? Most of the time they make our world easier. But how good is it to depend on things that could break? Do machines add the same kind of value to our life as other human beings? It really depends on your own life. Machines in medicine, for example, save lives everyday. One of Fota’s paintings appropriately features a doctor in uniform looking into the viewer. There really is no way, however, to translate what machines mean to us. There is no sense in being happy or upset about machines. They are part of our lives and will be for a really long time. They exist whether we want them or not. They have become extensions of us.
