My work on the first theme doesn’t split nicely into the first and second parts. It was a continuous process of creativity, and reading, that spanned a period coinciding with the conclusion of my sabbatical and my return to the office.

I’ve consolidated the concluding work for this theme into this post, while I’m treating the “part 1” post as consolidating the groundwork. See part one for the bibliography, research roundups, and so forth.

Table of Contents

Further Explorations of an Alter Ego

Executive Portrait of a Piranha

Martin Young (2025) Executive Portrait of a Piranha. [Oil on Linen] 50.8 x 61cm.

A darkly suited man sits in a leather chair, head tilted slightly as if part of a conversation. His pose is composed and perhaps practiced, as he sits for his portrait. In his right hand, he holds a disposable coffee cup with strange branding that echoes paintings in the background. He is in some form of boardroom; perhaps the paintings are of previous leaders in the company. He regards us with eyes that seem off, perhaps predatory. A band of faint purple strikes across his eyes, much like the portraits in the background, and on the coffee cup. He is one of them.

I knew early on that my final works for this Theme would relate to the King Corporate character. This character, I feel, is going to manifest itself in much of this year’s study but as I consider Identity I wanted to look at the who of this character.

King Corporate is Totemic — a distillation of a certain perceived archetype of senior corporate leadership. Predatory, indifferent, unequal, and shallow. Senior leaders seek to attain the mantle of King Corporate, in their own companies. Clearly, King Corporate draws on themes of Monarchy and American corporate culture with perhaps a rather Despotic tilt.

The resulting painting is an executive portrait of perhaps a younger me if I’d taken a slightly different approach to my corporate life and became the ladder-climber that I rather despise in others.

Exploration

As I was exploring visual themes for this painting, I kept returning to two possible paths:

Executive Portraiture, to me, is such a soulless and creepy form of portraiture. Executive as calm, patriarchal father figure(regardless of gender) for the constructed corporate identity. The sense of portrait-as-propaganda fits well with my thinking blending royal/noble portraiture and modern corporate message crafting.

In both these portraits, I feel like I can ‘read’ the individual shown. Looking specifically at the Mattelson, the subject presented with weights and measures, but also with a nature/hunting painting in the background. This, along with the blue tie/blue shirt (very conservative choices), and blue jeans, tells me that he projects himself as working class and “one of the boys”. Airplane cufflinks and the painting say that he wants to be seen as unafraid of exploration and charting new routes, going to new places. Whereas the weights and measures say that he focused on the bottom line.

Is the background painting one of him in his youth? Do the airplane cufflinks refer to a prior profession? No idea, and I didn’t intend to research him — I simply desired to feel what the painting tells me about the executive.

Marvin Mattelson (s.d.) Lin R. Rogers – Founder and Chairman. [Oil on linen] 44 x 32 inches.


Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Portrait of Louis XIV. [Oil on canvas] 277 x 194 cm.

Religious Portraiture which in my case would place corporatism, and capitalism, as the object of religious affection. I went back and forth between Mary& Christ Child and then Pieta as possible compositions, alluding to mentor/mentee relationships in a cutthroat world of corporate ladder climbing. Ultimately I decided that I can explore this Narrative during the Narrative theme of Idealab, should I so choose.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1498) The Madonna della Pietà. [Marble] 174 x 195cm.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1899) The Virgin of the Lilies. [Oil on canvas] 27 x 18.5cm.

Beads are a major part of my thinking for the Armor of Inequity costume. I wanted to explore how they may be relevant to a painting. A major influence here is Mickalene Thomas, whose work I had the privilege to see in person a couple years ago.

I wanted to use the beads to echo and create the armor into the painting. To test the idea, I laid the Executive Portrait of a Piranha flat and placed beads upon it to see the visual effect. My conclusion was: Either much more needs to be done beaded or none at all. The middle ground that I tested with was entirely wrong for the work.

That wrongness comes from two angles. First: quantity. The beads, here, look like afterthoughts — which admittedly they kind of are. I knew I wanted to include them, but they needed to be composed into the work at the beginning.

Second: palette. I have a limited palette of beads. If I want to do this “properly”, I need a wider collection of pigments. Again, this goes to planning from the beginning.

Bead test
Mickalene Thomas (2023) NUS Exotiques #2. [Rhinestones on dye sublimation prints] 71.12 x 69.2cm.

Suit Studies

In progress: The Armour of Inequity

Some early explorations of the costume can be found in part 1 here as part of the work in exercises for this theme.

I posted this to my social media, and one of my mutuals described this as “Mildly Terrifying”. Which is perfect.

Costume Components

Inspiration: I haven’t entirely settled on the full set of components, however, I early on decided that beads, alongside recycled clothing, had to play a major role in the costume. Beads came about from Kapwani Kiwanga’s Trinket. In that work, the artist recalls using beads as currency and cultural items in global cultures, particularly glass seed beads originally sourced from Venice. They connect these beads through colonialism and the exploitation that occurred.

I am intentionally taking the other side of that discourse. King Corporate comes bearing beads, with which he will trade. He will give you worthless pieces of glass, in exchange for everything you value — He doesn’t value the cultural, or spiritual, and can never understand what the beads themselves would mean to someone. He only sees the worthless items that he is trading for items of wealth and power.

Recycled clothing results from a conscious decision to reduce waste and is also influenced by artists such as Susan Avishai and craft YouTubers such as Bernadette Banner. In the case of the Armor, I’m recycling either my clothing, worn in a corporate setting or thrifting necessary garments for specific materials I’m looking for.

Everything gets used: the padding for all the components has so far been made from the internal padding in formal ties. This all provides a crafting challenge, as the strange shapes can be a bit difficult for this amateur tailor.

Martin Young (2025) Helm of Inequity (Work in Progress). [Silk ties, acrylic, plaster, recycled suit jacket, fresh water pearls and glass beads]
Martin Young (2025) Shield of Inequity (Work in Progress). [Stone and glass beads on recycled disposable coffee cup] Venti.

Helm

the three pieces of the helm serve a few functions: Intimidation and reinforcement of leadership; Forcing the wearer to only express the role of King Corporate, while also concealing the individual’s inner plans from being revealed. It is anonymizing, in a sense, as CEOs have put their true selves aside as they enact the expected behaviours of their role.

The helm remains in progress, as I work through the Gorget or “beard” as I think of it. Version one is shown in photo and video, and I’m very slowly beading in the decoration of a beard. I want to capture some of the playfulness from the originating mockup, via swirls of shiny beads.

Shield

The ever-present Starbucks coffee. Early on in my training as an upper manager, I was given this piece of advice: If you don’t know the answer to a question, pause for a moment and take a sip of your coffee. This will give your mind time to clear from the anxiety and to find an acceptable deflecting answer.

From a purely Craft perspective, this coffee cup is the most time-consuming thing I’ve ever done. Sure, I’ve spent a dozen hours on the helm at this point. I spent a dozen hours just on the white beads at the base of the cup. This thing is slow. It holds time, not coffee. That said, as I’ve progressed I’ve sped up as I’ve switched techniques. Some of these are super fast, though letting the acrylic dry consumes time before I can apply subsequent layers.

References

Worldbuilding and Brainstorming

Over the length of this unit, I intend to continue iterating and evolving a work of Performance art, with costumes and other elements. Below is the seed of the idea.

King Corporate and the Armor of Inequity

Statement

Martin’s mind moves between many different realms, each defined by a set of skills, aptitudes with interactions and a cast of characters. The greatest of these realms are The Gray Place and the Maelstrom. The Maelstrom rages through idea, colour, empathy and inspiration — it resists form while birthing forms into the world. The Maelstrom is wide-eyed and staring into the inchoate source of all things. The Gray Place is a land of cubicals and corporate hierarchy. It is bees building hives, and ants digging nests. It is the place of machine, logic, and amoral implementation of decisions made Above Your Level. In The Gray Place you are either On The Bus or looking for a new job elsewhere, for everyone must be united in making sure the Line Goes Up.

King Corporate, a child of the Maelstrom, is the lord of the Gray Place. He is the CEO and President of The Company, with a Steady Hand on the Tiller guiding his family of employees to deliver New Experiences and Differentiating Products to the wider world. He strides down the corridors, encouraging and motivating by his very presence, while Delegating Authorities to his trusted cabal of executives to make the small decisions that do not warrant his time: His Time is Expensive

King Corporate wears the Armour of Inequity, forged in board rooms and earning calls. The armour protects its wearer from questions of social or societal impact so long as The Line Goes Up and the shareholders are kept happy; and should he falter, and shareholders see too many unaddressed Challenges and Opportunities, then there is always a new successor waiting in the wings to snatch the helm from his head. It is worth being reminded that anyone can be King Corporate, so long as the helm fits.

Sources of Inspiration

  • Discussions of Craft immediately brought my heart to textiles as my mother is a weaver and spinner. Although I have not incorporated much fibre work into this last year’s work, it is an idea that keeps jumping into the forefront of my mind. In prior work, I have embroidered some watercolour paintings and done fibre interventions into charcoal drawings.
  • This particular “work” builds on my enjoyment of artists such as Mickalene Thomas, Susan Avishai, and Jimbo the Drag Clown.
  • The Alter Ego is, of course, inspired by my corporate day job and my role in my company (though I am not CEO)

Planning and Design

The complete work and performance is defined by the components below, but for the purposes of this unit of study, my focus will be on creating specific sub-components of the artifacts.

Physical Artifacts

The Armour of Inequity

The armour is built upon a corporate, black pinstripe suit that you might expect bankers to wear — since a banker did indeed wear it (myself). Each component of the Armor of Inequity is an additional piece that is layered overtop the suit — because anyone can be King Corporate, the pieces must be transferrable.

Colour enters the work via recycled neckties, which have been deconstructed and resewn to form structure and shape. Some subcomponents may also feature other materials such as plaster gauze/wire armature, oil&acrylic paint and office shoes.

  • Helm
  • Gorget and Pauldron
  • Gauntlets
  • Sabatons
  • Shield

Attached Slides: The Line Goes Up

A large painting to be used in the performance of the Earnings Call, depicting various forms in support of the corporate narrative.

Performances

Earnings Update and End of Year Forecast

Via choreographed movements, and recorded spoken word, King Corporate performs the earnings call complete with “PowerPoint” slides, shareholder questions, and the avoidance of concrete answers.

The performance must have an audience since an earnings call doesn’t happen if no one shows up. The media may be in attendance, but none of their questions will be answered. Since there is limited time for questions, Shareholders must decide amongst themselves who they will nominate to ask the most important questions.

Related Research

Biggs, R. (2024) “An interesting story post from @benvyle which I resonate with” [Instagram] 20 Nov.
  • the originating post, that Rock quotes isn’t available to me, and Rock’s story has since expired as well. the nature of this ephemeral social media world we live in, I suppose.