Charcoal on 30" by 36" (about yard by yard) piece of Strathmore drawing paper.

You cannot deny this God: you cannot look away.

[[Long wordage is more for my benefit then anyone's, most likely. Think of it as a (partial) answer key.]]

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It must first be noted that I have a huge utter infatuation with warning/caution/hazard symbols. My username is a play on such.

They're blatent and simple, harsh on the eyes and the mind. The marks do not try to hide the fact that something is dangerous, nor exaggerate the fact, but stand unrelentingly cold, unquestionable, and emotionless infront of danger, while we humans sweat and worry and cannot look away. With it present, one cannot deny, forget, or ignore the risk.

And then there is the fascination with the idea radiation and atomics. It's godly. By changing protons, you are changing what something, when summed up completely, Is, at the most sublime level reachable. For example, when you destroy a rock wall, you knock it over, but it is still rock. When you screw with the protons- nuke it- it no longer is even rock. It *isn't* as much as it possibly can be.

It could be seen as a anti-atomics piece, but that is too simple a goal. Superficially it is reminiscent (or trying to be, anyway. That or old Cold War propaganda, which is equally fun.) of those old medieval murals celebrating military strength, but right underneath the reality of the situation is shown- the sickening oppression of the God over Its subjects; the bow to its supreme power over all- the power to destroy utterly; sacriligeously tearing apart the very fabric of creation- the power of the Sun.

And yet, the complication comes because the subjects first voluntarily fell to this God, having strived to let It loose themselves. Now, they fall because they cannot risk objection. People suffer, but they have no choice. They cannot turn back now.

And contradictorily, there really are no faces- they are either hidden or are lacking all together where they should be.

The gas masks aren't needed, per se, for they're pretty useless against gamma rays, but they go with the motif of war and ironic emotionlessness and lack of individuality.

For under God, all are equal.
Everything is sublimating.
The city, the horses, all dissolve into their components.

And yes, that's an eagle on the top of that war-banner staff.
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Technically, this is angst art, as it was done in a frenzy of negative emotion with no apparent goal. But to this that label carries no weight, however, and it shouldn't. Things shouldn't be blown off so easily via convenient labels. Tangent, yeah.

And remind me to never *ever* try to do a cityscape/skyline kind of thing. That took the longest because I couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing, and looks half-assed. And yes, the horses are meant to have poor anatomy. The entire thing is surreal, including them. I'm also rather proud of the composition, for once. Almost.

[[Carly forgot she had a huge roll of Strathmore to use up and forgot how much she loved charcoal (It's like dry watercolor- you can move it around, and it never really sits still.) and how much more rewarding it was to get physically tired and dirty when creating art, and how much better it felt to have something large, raw, real, and unchanging compared to something small, digital and gone in a click. You'll see much more of this, I assure you.]]


Soundtrack
A Perfect Circle - Pet
System of a Down - Boom!
VNV Nation - Carbon

Screw Mars.