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Arrowfire — Chip Off the Old Block
Published: 2006-07-24 23:31:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 3228; Favourites: 39; Downloads: 27
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Description
I painted this as a companion piece to "28 Years Later". This was inspired by Chapter 5 of John Christopher's novel "The White Mountains", a story that was itself inspired by H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds". "The White Mountains" is the first book in the "Tripods Trilogy", set in a future where the earth is enslaved by alien invaders, cities have been destroyed, and society has regressed to a medieval level. John Christopher has often been compared to John Wyndham because they've both been known to write post-apocalypse stories. Although post-apocalypse stories are common in SF, artists have been destroying cities for centuries. in 1796 Hubert Robert painted a view of the Louvre art gallery in ruins. in 1798 Joseph Gandy painted the Bank of England in ruins. In 1871 Gustave Dore' did an engraving called "The New Zealander" which shows a man sketching the abandoned ruins of London in the 21st century. Maybe destroying cities is an unconcious way of expressing a desire to escape the civiization we're trapped in. A lot of kids have fantasies about demolishing their schools.Related content
Comments: 16
That looks like the arch of Constantine in the background. ^^ Nice job!
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I love your description and the discussion here. I'm always fascinated by post-apocalyptic scenes, but I can never quite put my finger on why. I'm sure someone out there has written a thesis about it.
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I saw a good cover done by Tim White for one of J.G. Ballard's books ("Hello America"). It showed the top of the Chrysler Building rising out of the desert sand with a rattlesnake in the foreground. There is something evocative about seeing our own civilization the way a future historian might see it.
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I also love the backstory
great job,
but remember that the row of trees probably has no one to look after them.
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Thanks. The trees were quite fun to do. I'm actually wandering if I should have made them taller.
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I would've had nature reclaiming everything and only the hardiest planted trees surviving, but that's just me. It's a really cool post apocalyptic painting, and I really like the abandoned cars. It's sort of what it would look like after, perhaps, a dirty bomb attack occured.
I saw a picture book on the abandoned city of Chernobyl who's photos were taken nearly 2 decades following the disaster. I gives you an idea of what happens to a modern city after it is abandoned, with nature trying to reclaim what's rightfully her's and the like
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I've seen those photos of Chernobyl and Pripyat too. They're quite eerie. It'll probably be decades before people can live there again. You have a point about the trees. In the book "Earth Abides", which gives descriptions of an empty New York, it mentions that the ornamental trees "planted in concrete" died! "The very shade trees by the avenues, lacking man's care, die in their shallow pockets", the book says. I'm a bit of a tree fanatic.
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Same here, and thanks for all the kind, insightful comments
If history is any indication, most large cities existing today (and the sprawl that surrounds them, such as in the USA, especially after an oil crash) will eventually become abandoned, only being occupied by a scattering of villiages, and what remains of the low rise, low density suburban development either returning to nature or being used by peasant farmers as animal pens. (that's something I would look forward to seeing, even though I'd be long dead and forgotten.
There was a book I checked out in the early part of 8th grade, my senior year of high shool, and have read through parts of while in the library in the years since then. I think it may have been called "A Secret History of Tomorrow", but that could be way off. It was written in the 1970s and takes place in both the 1990's (during a time of racial warfare in the USA) and centuries from now, long after a collapse of civilization, connected through a telepathic link between those widely different times. The cover gave you an idea of how cities were abandoned and forgotten (forests grow between and atop the old skyscrapers as deer and other wild animals run through what was once the streets). If you could find that book, you might be interested in it.
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Wow, looks great.
I love that kind of art where artists destroys the cities. A kind of nice way to let your imagination run wild
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I like those matte paintings of Washington D.C. they had in the movie "Logan's Run". Speaking of which, there is supposed to be a remake coming out. These days any views of a ruined city would be all computer generated.
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!!!!!!!!! not paris!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! anything but that!!!
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Didn't Charlton Heston scream "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" when he saw the Statue of Liberty at the end of "Planet of the Apes"? It's been a while since I saw it. I can't remember exactly what he was saying but he was quite emotional and dramatic.
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frodo also screamed out "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" when galdalf the grey let go and plummeted into the darkness of moria. that was gut wrenching also. can we keep the list going?
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Annakin Skywalker screams the word when he goes over to the Dark Side. I still haven't seen the movie, but a lot of people found that moment totally cringeworthy!
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