The Gods in Darkness, paperback cover 2002

Curator: The paperback cover we're viewing is called "The Gods in Darkness" by Ken Kelly, created in 2002, and executed using acrylic paints. What's your immediate reaction? Editor: Chaos. Utter, glorious chaos. The fire-red sky mirroring the violence below. It feels almost operatic, wouldn't you say? A real headbanger of a painting. Curator: It's interesting you mention opera, because there is indeed a theatrical quality. Thinking of it within its fantasy art context, and what that communicates through gendered aggression: How do we reconcile what are arguably outdated power dynamics inherent in heroic imagery? Editor: Well, there's the rub, isn't it? Look at the musculature, the rage...it's pure testosterone amplified. Maybe it's tapping into some primal part of our psyche, this desire for dominance, but viewed through a modern lens, it raises a lot of uncomfortable questions about what we celebrate as strength. And yet, that energy is so compelling. Curator: Exactly. The figure stands astride his horse, literally elevated above the fray. The artist employs dramatic foreshortening, exaggerating his physique to further amplify his power. What’s so interesting about that exaggeration is how power intersects with myth and culture, so that violence itself reads as masculine assertion and virtue. Editor: Kelly uses the light to almost sculpt his subject—really adds to that feeling of raw power. Almost classical in that sense but amplified like you’d expect from heavy metal album art. The crimson palette just reinforces the feverish mood, the kind where reason takes a back seat. Curator: That ties into larger discussions about representations of power. Kelly situates the artwork within narratives where brutality might be glamorized but can open us to examine the roots of human aggression, and even patriarchal social structure in relation to power as its used and abused. It's definitely got that "heavy metal album cover" vibe you described—and there is indeed fertile critical ground in that overlap. Editor: Yeah, that contrast keeps it interesting to me. Sort of makes me squirm, while also being undeniably striking. A flawed masterpiece, perhaps? Curator: Precisely! And within that uncomfortable space, a reflection is possible that engages social narratives intersecting history, gender and cultural criticism. Editor: That’s certainly given me a few things to chew on—thanks!