The neon work «Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin» is a transliteration of the mysterious inscription that appears in Rembrandt’s Belshazzar’s Feast, depicting a passage from the Old Testament. During a banquet, a premonitory inscription, meaning in Aramaic «numbered, numbered, weighed, divided» appears on the wall in front of the Babylonian king. Daniel who has served the king’s office told him that he will be punished because of blasphemy and the kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. That very night King Belshazzar was murdered, and Darius the Mede became King.
Еver since the inscription «Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin» is associated with an imminent end, the fall of the empire. The artist is decontextualizing a prophetic idiom into a glowing neon advert.