
Clash of Generations, 2017 - Sven 't Jolle
about this work
This edition is based on a series of drawings called Great Regression Epic (2010-2013) that Sven ‘t Jolle made with his son Sen between 2010 (when Sen was four years old) and 2013 (when he was eight years old). The drawings, which emanate naive innocence and recognizable spontaneity, are the result of interplay between father and son, and as such represent the presumed generation conflict, an important theme in the artist's practice.
The series depicts battles fought by a little ecclectic army of warriors from all corners of the globe. That way by drawing, the artist also relived a period from his childhood. Regression signifies relapse not only in psychology, but also in economics. After 'Great Depression', the term 'Great Regression' is recently being used as well to describe the deteriorating economical situation and the loss of social achievements most of the working population in the Western world also has been dealing with since the eighties.