Creative Work

Shrike

Maxwell Shawer

Digital painting, Krita

Shrike is a surrealist digital painting that underscores the predatory business practices of oil conglomerates in acquiring land for fracking and the flow of those resources. The painting depicts a family-owned farm enclosed by a wall of tar. The farmer’s spirit looks on as the shrikes have impaled their cow and cut the doe-faced son. The bombers loom overhead, ready to hunt their next prey. This mirrors how corporations poison land with nearby fracking, killing the farmers, crops, and animals. Their children become the next target of the military-industrial complex. It takes their land, health, and autonomy as they are drafted and sent off to fight wars for oil, repeating the cycle of state-sanctioned murder.

Subliminal (preview)

Maxwell Shawer

Digital painting, Krita

Emblematic is a surrealist digital painting discussing the use of misinformation campaigns by fossil fuel companies and how that negatively affects both the mind and culture. A man sits on a couch in a reserved and strained position, taking in ads on the TV. The words stretch across the walls and wrap around his head, constricting his vision and blocking his access to three possible exits. The ads chant anti-nuclear and pro-fossil sentiments. The furniture and embellishments of the room are misshapen and missing key details. This demonstrates how our minds deteriorate the more we are exposed to propaganda. The disorienting room is representative of the separation from society that these campaigns cause.