I am sitting in Holetown, Barbados doing last minute errands before “Everything is Peachy in Babylon” opens this evening at the Gallery of Caribbean Art in Speightstown! My parents, Susan and Reuben Mains, have been a big help and instrumental to putting the show up! Also, friends in Dallas that have helped me get ready and have otherwise supported and encouraged me on that side of the pond. A special thank you to my dog Banksy who is a continuous source of frustration and criticism. Things look great and there will be pictures from the opening to prove it. 

One of the big attractions will be the “Wings to Fly” installation where people will be encouraged to stand in front of the ten foot wings to be able to envision themselves with wings to fly (above the destructive systems that entangle us). These pictures will be posted in a gallery on my site and on the Asher Mains Art facebook page. 

Where ever you are, send some positive vibes towards Barbados!

“Everything is Peachy in Babylon”

Asher Mains

Gallery of Caribbean Art

The concept for “Everything is Peachy in Babylon” is an anti-ad campaign sarcastically pointing at the promises and illusions of the American dream and the glorification of imperial systems. Growing up in the Caribbean and later pursuing university education in the States, I realized that the empty promises that fuel American ideals still draw people from abroad to pursue their own illusions. While much of the “first world” is in disrepair and socially inept, it is still promoted as the destination for promising West Indians and others to become all that they can be. This exhibit encourages viewers to inspire themselves with the invisible wings necessary to overcome the destructive systems that Babylon[1] promotes as prosperity.

An underlying theme in much of the work represented in this exhibit is the concept of fractals. Fractals are a mathematical theory that is used as a way of describing shapes found in nature. Mountains, waves, and trees are all natural expressions of fractals. My approach to fractals is a social one. The concept is that behaviour repeats itself (in iterations) in a self similar way, indefinitely. Further, the fractal patterns inspires itself and dictates what future patterns will look like, similar to two mirrors facing each other, a phenomenon known as recursion. In a sense of time, the way you use your time in a day is an approximate representation of the way you use your time all year. The market scene is not only represented by shapes that are fractal in nature but the context of the piece is a social fractal. The entire scene is a market scene, a center for food production and distribution. Within the scene there are smaller iterations of the greater; someone cooking a pot, someone eating food. On the smallest and most intimate level, a mother is feeding her child, creating feedback that paints the entire scene once again in an intimate personal manner representative of the reality of a marketplace.

Yout’ man,
Come out the hot sun,
Enjoy some air condition,
Yuh skin don’t need de attention,
Everything is peachy in Babylon.
Babylon is the place of dreams,
Conceive, believe, and see de sales team,
Come get your loan interest free
Payback is easy with plastic money.

In Babylon you can take what you want
An’ if you can’t find what you want
You can make what you want.
In Babylon, you don’t must have employment
The government is invested in your enjoyment.
You need security?
You secure with me.
Babylon has artillery.
Babylon have massive guns and bombs,
Nobody could take what is Babylon’s.

Babylon’s walls are tall and go on and on
Everything is peachy in Babylon
The roads in Babylon are paved with gold
Or so I’m told
And your goal
Should be to see them before you’re old.

 And don’t listen to Peachy B

Little girl telling you to be free,
That things aren’t all what they seem
And all you need are wings
What you going to do? Strap them on?
Everything is peachy in Babylon.

Don’t listen to Peachy B,
You’ll never want to leave
When you see
All that Babylon can be.

Repeat after me,

Everything is Peachy

Everything is Peachy

Everything is Peachy in Babylon