Happy Hour is a critical reflection on the relationship between freedom, dependency, and the pursuit of happiness.
It has become increasingly common to try to overcome the limits imposed by our physical and emotional condition through different forms of alteration, ranging from the milder ones (energy drinks, high-protein diets) to the most extreme (the abuse of prescription drugs, alcohol, and narcotics), as if we were constantly trying to escape the reality of our existence—which we tend to perceive as ordinary when compared to the unattainable standards promoted by the media—in order to immerse ourselves in another dimension, full of colour and gratification, where limits no longer seem to exist.
In Happy Hour, the moment of the “aperitivo” is used as an ironic symbol of this tendency. The joyful conviviality typically associated with this social ritual is transformed into the excessive, solitary, continuous, and almost forced consumption of pills as a response to discomfort and feelings of inadequacy, suggesting how the constant pursuit of gratification can gradually turn into addiction. The body appears to endure what it receives, no longer capable of resisting the mechanism that consumes it.
The contrast between the vibrant colours of the background and the sculptural grey of the body highlights the distance between the seductive appearance of the promises of well-being and the sense of emptiness that often accompanies them.
