In a society as intricate and fragile as ours it seems more and more difficult to escape the nasty tendrils of corrupt intentions. Greed, power, control – these menacing ideas will certainly find a way to break through the bounds of ethical considerations. It is this danger that Diane Victor warns us against in her work Beware the Lap of Luxury, published in 2020 by Island Press, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University, with Master Printer Tom Reed.
Beware the Lap of Luxury employs the intaglio techniques of hardground, softground and drypoint on the substrate of a steel plate, and displays figures, animalistic motifs and hidden scenes in the masterful hand that Victor has become recognised for. The work probes into how power, wealth and the allure of luxury can be used as a tool of control.