Multiple Russian Cruise Missile Strikes on Electrical Power Substations 2022

Kinder Album made this watercolor and ink drawing, Multiple Russian Cruise Missile Strikes on Electrical Power Substations. It's intense and beautiful and hard to look at, all at once. Watercolor is always about process, about being in the moment, and Album’s choice of this medium really underscores the emotional content of the work. The washes of color in the rolling hills feel peaceful, almost like a memory, which makes the brutal disruption of the burning electrical station all the more poignant. Look at the way she’s rendered the smoke – such delicate washes, and yet they evoke something so violent. The way Album uses line is also interesting: those power lines stretch across the image, connecting and dividing the space, just like the infrastructure they represent. It reminds me a little of Klee, how he used line to create a sense of both order and chaos, and to explore the relationship between the inner and outer worlds. This piece is clearly about something awful, but the artist has found a way to make it speak to hope, somehow.