Commissioned By Ambassador Pierre Clive Agius

Crossing the Trampoline

Artist Statement

This artwork is fairly straightforward: it is the result of the superimposition of two images—a historical painting and a still from a contemporary music video. It serves as a study of how historical imagery becomes intertwined, perhaps unconsciously, in the production of contemporary representations. In this particular case, the famous Neoclassical propaganda painting by Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps, is intermeshed with a still from the music video Trampoline by Tinie Tempah.

It is deeply ironic that, in one particular moment of the video, Tinie Tempah portrays himself in an equestrian pose that crossing-the-trampolinees the historical tradition of conquerors depicted riding their stallions toward victory. Needless to say, the agendas behind the two images are vastly different. In the former, we encounter a grand narrative of secularization and modernization; in the latter, we are confronted with the spectacle of hedonistic late capitalism.

Yet, despite being worlds apart, the two images share a certain sense of hope—whether it be the promise of a better political system, or the pursuit of self-fulfilment and economic success. At the same time, both also reflect the sad corruption of their respective projects: a military empire in one case, and a self-indulgent, superficial individual in the other.