Restraint Series

2011

Each panel 16.5” x 28.5”

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This Commission by the Institute for Advanced Hindsight asked to ideate behavioral self-restraint. The bottom panel “Success: Goals Met,” shows love actualized (dancing couple), professional success (woman with Birkin Bag), spare time (vacationer), and financial independence (man leaning on ancient art). I also illustrate the Ulysses Contract, whereby you relinquish all self-control to meet a goal. In  the top image, “Failure: Burden of Regret,” I attempt to create a Hell where the hapless strive and fail endlessly. A case of money mismanagement, next to a fellow who struggles to carry a ladder full of unspecified regrets. A media-addicted woman and behind her the calorie enslaved. Squeezed between her and the money addict is the Orthodox zealot, which can be replaced with any religious zealotry.