Artist: Brynn Patten
Title: The World-Ender
Medium: Acrylic on wood
Size: 13 x 18 in
Artist Statement: 
This work draws from the narrative of NieR Replicant, a story that presents itself as a familiar myth: a devoted hero fighting to save his sister from a monstrous threat. Like many classic tales-from ancient mythology to modern fantasy-it asks the viewer to trust in the clarity of good and evil. Yet, through a shift in perspective, that certainty dissolves. What first appears heroic is revealed to be catastrophic; the protagonist, in his love and conviction, becomes an agent of extinction.
Constructed from three die-cut wooden layers, the piece takes the form of a tarot card-an object tied to fate and archetype. Like figures in myth, the protagonist enacts devastation not through malice, but through love and belief. By framing him as this archetype, the work invites viewers to reconsider how perspective shapes morality-and how the stories we trust can obscure as much as they reveal.