“Alchemy of Greed”

​

Mixed Media on Canvas

By Taylor Kirch

2024

 

A work of texture, light, and color, “Alchemy of Greed” confronts us with the duality of gild and decay. Strokes of gold dominate the composition, their brilliance captivating at first glance. Yet, the eye is inevitably drawn to the jagged contrasts: streaks of deep crimson slashing through the opulence, while shadowed tones creep at the edges, threatening to overtake the light. The gold, feels uneven and unwelcome --- its luster almost garish—hinting at something artificial and impermanent.

​

​Alchemy of Greed is not just a portrait of opulence; it is the anatomy of a collapse. It reminds us that wealth without purpose, power without conscience, and empires without foundations are destined to fall. And when the gold flakes away, all that remains is the ruin they swore could never come.

​

I sought to confront my own relationship with the pursuit of something that was never to be -- my own independent "wealth" and security. Following the steps I set out for myself at an early age: college, graduate school, a "good job", a great resume... I realized how quickly it can be taken away as I watch monopolies grow, and industries constrict. And that when it comes to the overwhelming imbalance of wealth, no matter how hard I tried, I would never feel that sense of security. I had followed the rules, but still wait for the other shoe to drop every day. It was a façade of my own design, and I was shedding the skin of the gilded ruin, and worked toward something they can never take away from me.

​

True alchemy was never about turning lead into gold. It was about transformation—of the self, of the world, of meaning. But greed follows a different path. It seeks only to hoard, to consume, to gild its failures in something that shines just long enough to fool those who do not look closely. This is the alchemy of greed: the illusion of permanence, the inevitability of destruction. But the gold doesn’t hold. It never does. Cracks form, the shimmer fades, and what’s left is a ruin—a monument to the arrogance of those who believed they could take endlessly without consequence.