BEGGING BOWLS

Wastedland, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Never Enough, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Riches to Rags, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Arts

Value Judgement, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Net Profit, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

PTSD, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Underwater Targets, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine art

The Haves and Have Nots, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

On the Backs of Others, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Struggles, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Only the Past is Written in Stone, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Riding the Wave, Begging Bowls, Ann Grasso Fine Art

Visiting Vienna in 2015, I was struck by the amount of gold on many buildings both outside and in. Not just the churches, but commercial and retail buildings as well. Gustav Klimt is heavily featured in Vienna and his father was a goldsmith giving Klimt easy access to gold, which he used liberally.

Contrasted with this were the street beggars dressed in monk’s habit laying prostrate with begging bowls forward of their foreheads pasted to the ground allowing no eye contact with passers-by.

Anonymous.

Icons of the poor and needy: beggars in monk’s habit.

Icons of the rich and greedy: gold in abundance.

Underwater Targets explores the idea that it is not just the beggars asking for money. Religious institutions, non-profits, and big-business are constantly assaulting either through guilt or advertising. Their aim: increase their earnings with our money.

Both groups are anonymous. The poor are a faceless sea of many. The rich are insulated from public scrutiny because they can pay for their privacy.

This series endeavors to point our attention toward this disparity at its extremes not just in Vienna, but worldwide.

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