Toy Cars

A spur-of-the-moment mockup of a visual observation I made whilst looking through images of the devastation in Japan. I came across that ghostly pic of all the floating white cars, and they started to resemble skulls..

It goes without saying that what's happened/is happening is almost beyond comprehension in terms of the scale of destruction and lives lost. Very sad.

A large part of me wants to create something really substantial to potentially sell and then donate earnings to the cause. But with events like this it all just seems so insignificant, making an artwork about it... I don't know, it's weird.

We live in a world dominated and driven by images now - and after seeing (along with the rest of the world) such extensive documentation of the tsunami and ensuing chaos, I feel a bit obsolete as an artist/designer. Who cares about some poster or comment I have to make about the disaster? Or anyone else's for that matter? I can't help but be a little bit cynical when big shot designers whip out a poster one or two days after the event for charity. Is it just unnecessary? Or at it's worse, is it exploitative and egocentric?

I've always struggled with this fine line, but in the end those questions don't matter because we're going to make them anyway. That's why I made this. It doesn't achieve much. It doesn't even say that much. It's just a part of real compulsion to deal with what happens through images - a minor instance of catharsis. And if we can raise money, highlight the grim circumstances, or simply imbue a sense of hope or positivity in our work then I don't think there's a better justification for artists to continue contributing to the mass of images.

I'd love to hear your opinions on whatever it was I just talked about up there, lol. Have you ever thought about these kinds of images this way? Anyway, my heart is with all those in Japan affected by the earthquake/tsunami - the world is with you.