Empty Promises, Empty People, Empty Power.
Empty Promises, Empty People, Empty Power
Power has always spoken in promises.
We will bring peace.
We will keep you safe.
We will create jobs.
We will protect your rights.
We will build a better future.
The words change. The voices change. The promises remain.
In this work, familiar political promises emerge as empty forms. They can still be read, but there is almost nothing inside them. Language remains after substance has disappeared.
There are no flags, parties, borders, or ideologies here. The work does not accuse one government, one country, or one historical moment. It considers something older and more persistent: the relationship between power, promise, and belief.
Power needs promises because power needs people to believe in tomorrow. Peace will come. Justice will be restored. Life will improve. Someone will protect us. Something will change.
And people want to believe.
Perhaps this is why the same promises survive those who make them. Leaders disappear. Governments fall. Ideologies change. New voices arrive and speak remarkably familiar words.
A promise requires someone to make it, someone to believe it, and someone to live with what remains when it is broken.
Sometimes what remains is only the shape.
Empty promises.
Empty people.
Empty power.
Title: Empty Promises, Empty People, Empty Power.
Year: 2026
Series: War Series / Existential
Medium: Acrylic paint and archival pigment ink on paper
Dimensions: 10 × 15 cm; framed: 12.8 × 17.8 × 1 cm
Edition: Unique (1/1)
Condition: Fine
Certificate: This artwork is accompanied by a signed Certificate of Authenticity and permanently documented in the Viktor Karpenko Artwork Archive.
Archive Number: VK-0032-0026
Status: 🟢 Available