"Mask Up" by Ty Tatmore (2024) is a powerful and unsettling piece of contemporary social commentary. This work throws the viewer into a scene of post-apocalyptic anxiety where an individual, wearing a striking conical hairdo and a defiant "MASK UP" t-shirt, sits amidst the wreckage of a dilapidated room.
The artist uses dark humor and surreal imagery to explore the cultural tensions surrounding public health mandates and personal responsibility. The sign "CHOOSE WISELY!!" acts as a stark warning, while symbols like the gas mask and the Scream mask and also wearing a mask suggest a spectrum of survival and fear. The massive explosion breaking through the window is a haunting, almost surreal symbol of the unstoppable outside forces impacting daily life.
With its raw, graphic style and intense atmosphere, this painting is a memorable and thought-provoking statement that captures the isolation, uncertainty, and dark irony of living through a moment of global crisis.
To be honest, wasn’t too happy with how this turned out but it’s just practice. I know I’ve got to draw like a thousand more noses to really get something decent lol. If you have any tips on how I could get better, let me know!
I think they had a disagreement...
(my friends and I like to challenge each other to draw random little scenarios like this...try it, it's pretty fun!)
I drew this when I was tired of people not doing anything to help the earth even when some people put in so much effort, some people just don't do a thing because it might cause inconvenience.
I wanted it to look like the chalkboard menus in quirky cafes. I drew the image with a Blackwing pencil, scanned it into Photoshop, inverted, then applied the colors.
