TEOTWAWKI

[gfish]

As I happened to mention in Rollick's suicide post, I was really obsessed with nuclear war as a kid. I wrote stories involving it, invented games simulating it, and drew lots and lots of mushroom clouds. In the process of moving boxes around to make room for a server rearrangement tonight, I came across two of my old paintings. They were supposed to be part of a greater 'Scenes from the Apocalypse' series that remains unfinished. These would have been done when I was 16ish.

I present Nuclear War and Nuclear Winter. Both are acrylic on block of wood. Note the cute before/after motif. I'm actually rather proud of the second. Probably the best visual art I've ever made -- which obviously isn't saying much.

Comments

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the winter one, actually. It's cold looking, but dirty looking too.

I had so many nightmares about nuclear war as a teenager, it was the single greatest source of angst and distrust between myself and the older generation. It drove me bananas that no one would speak honestly about it.

[mrlogic.livejournal.com]

I still recall vividly at least one of my nuclear war nightmares from when I was fifteen or so. I remember the helplessness of watching the wave front from the explosion approach.

Thankfully, these went away when the Cold War ended...

I like the subtlety of the Nuclear Winter painting.

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

I have had more nightmares about nuclear war in the past two years than I ever did as a teenager, and I used to worry about it a fair amount. The town I grew up in, Andover MA, was a secondary nuclear target, so I knew that I was toast if the Soviets attacked, and I can recall reading the Jonathan Schell's the Abolition, McNamara's Blundering Into Disaster, and other books on nuclear deterrence and such. I felt much easier about things since the Wall came down, but since 9/11, I am convinced that it's only a matter of time.

My bet: India and Pakistan.

I think you'll appreciate this.

[grinninfoole.livejournal.com]

I saw this link in mycrofth's journal. It's photos of Chernobyl, taken in the past few months.

http://markrose.ca/www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/page2.html