Entitle

Artist: Amanda Parer
Country: Australia

Entitle is an elaborate light installation designed in the 18th-century Rococo style and crafted using the traditional techniques of Chinese lantern- making. Covering 10 sq m, the artwork features four large decorative towers, heavily ornamented with gold and brightly coloured flowers, which surround a base displaying a light-sculpture of a mother pig and her suckling young.

Whilst it channels the ornamental excess of the Rococo, Entitle is not intended to be just a decorative piece. Instead, artist Amanda Parer uses the work to make a statement about the consequences of overly indulgent contemporary lifestyles. The pig represents gluttony, and the flowers adorning the towers are not the pretty European flora that featured in the Rococo; instead, they are extinct species. The piglets feeding from their mother represent the “entrenched sense of multi-generational entitlement” that exists in Western culture.

In Europe during the 1700s, the Rococo was a period of excess. For those who could afford it, the lifestyle of the period was highly indulgent and based on the pursuit of pleasure at the expense of the other strata of society. The artwork of the time is reflective, with intricate floral and pattern designs featuring fanciful curves and the use of gold and bright colours.

Entitle references both Eastern and Western culture to enhance the theme of overindulgence using the lavish Chinese lantern technique, the overly ornate Rococo-inspired design and the symbolism of the greedy pig.