Tower 

Editor: This drawing, titled "Tower" by Sue Coe, is done with ink on paper. It’s… unsettling. A chaotic scene unfolds beneath what looks like a collapsing tower, possibly a nuclear reactor. What do you see in this piece? Curator: This work speaks volumes about production, about how disaster, both environmental and social, is manufactured. The frantic activity suggests a breakdown in societal systems, the literal fracturing made tangible through the artist’s sharp, angular linework with the use of ink, a relatively inexpensive and widely available material reflecting its anti-art position. Editor: Manufactured disaster? Could you elaborate? Curator: Consider the material and technique here. Coe's use of stark black ink and dense, chaotic cross-hatching reflects a rushed, almost desperate, means of production. This speaks to the speed and recklessness with which such disasters, whether environmental, political, or social, are created. Even the scraps of text seem pulled directly from the headlines and the historical data itself, repurposed as part of her image to speak directly to how events can spiral. Do you see the city street? What does that addition of a city landscape suggest to you? Editor: It creates a kind of "everyday" setting where a disaster has disrupted, as the "street" element gives a social context and invites the public's interpretation. Are the figures shown to be trying to stop the events or simply experiencing their repercussions? Curator: Precisely, it asks who benefits and who suffers from these processes of creation and destruction? Editor: That's fascinating, thinking about it not just as a depiction of chaos, but as an analysis of production. Thanks! Curator: A vital distinction that is crucial when discussing material realities of such scenes.