"The Modern Jumble" is the first piece of six from "Five Color Study." "Five Color Study" is a body of work composed of six distinct illustrations, each of which utilizes the same five colors. "Five Color Study" owes its foundation to both the Suprematism and Constructivism art movements of the early 20th century. Through a reimagination of these early modern art theories, this series focuses on accentuating the beauty of simplicity. This piece in particular has been inspired by protagonist Antonius Block from "The Seventh Seal" by Ingmar Bergman. In one of Bergman’s most revered works, "The Seventh Seal," the protagonist Antonius Block, a knight of the Crusades, comes back to medieval Europe upon the onset of the Black Plague. As the movie begins, Antonius is met with the personification of death, who has come to take Antonius’s life. Not yet ready to accept death, Antonius challenges Death to a game of chess. The game is played throughout the whole course of the movie giving Antonius time to answer his ever growing existential questions about the existence of God. While a servant of God from the Crusades, Antonius struggles to keep his faith and thus he slips from the believer into a position of ambiguity. Bergman also has supporting characters who are on either side of the spectrum. Jöns, Antonius’s squire is very clearly an unbeliever in christ while Antonius’s newfound friend, Jof is a devout believer who had seen a vision of the Virgin Mary early in the film. In either case, both characters not only seem confident in their belief system but also are content with their way of life. Antonius is in a liminal position because he does not wish to be in the position he is in and is thus in a transitional period. There is cultural assurance to his existential crisis on either end of the spectrum if he can just come to firmly believe God does exist or God does not. By the end of the film, Antonius fails to find meaning in his life. He dies scared of death, unsure of his purpose.
