Apocalypse Still is the creation of Boston artist Shaun Maclean Marrow. The painting is over a 100 meters long, pictorially embodying Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 cinema classic Apocalypse Now.
The world seems to be involuting upon itself in crisis. Apocalypse Now was Francis Ford Coppola’s utilization of Hollywood as a platform to show ‘the horror, the horror’ of war and the emotional toll of inner demons created by the powers that be. Apocalypse Still is a 100m (or more) painting of his movie, it uses installation to support its ‘horrors’, and movement to speak the words a painting cannot. It is already being painted, the idea of painting a film (time) is something that is warned against in the world of paint.
Sketch, Dinner for the colonel. Ink.
Detail of Sketch. Ink, gouache.
Sketch, study of the “Deadly Dance” scene in “Apocalypse Now”. Ink.
Sketch. Studying Kurtz. Ink, charcoal.
Sketch, closeups, and whiskey glass study. Ink.
Frost on the painting in the morning.
Critique by Ariel Radock: …Systematically offering numerous parallels within our own society, Mr. MacLean Marrow provides us with an insight into his own voracious appetite in representing a subject that transcends time and human complexity. Apocalypse Still is an outward manifestation of our innermost torments. Willingly, or perhaps in some cases unwillingly, we are forced to confront abhorrent horrors and are simultaneously repulsed and drawn to numerous attributes within this project. We are thus presented with a masterful rendition not only of a turbulent emotional journey but also a haunting visual one as well.
Hearts of Darkness: A Painter’s Apocalypse is a short documentary chronicling the development of the art installation Apocalypse Still.
See more recent work by Shaun Maclean Marrow on his blog.
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