Luke Siemens

I am interested in creating images that have both a sense of chaos and order. The idea that chaotic images can be used to frighten people into relinquishing authority leads me to depict scenes of pseudo-catastrophe that remove the sense of menace associated with disasters, and replace it with one of curiosity. My work is an attempt to connect with a childhood state where one took pleasure in running a model train off its tracks, stomping on a Lego tower, or directing Godzilla towards SimCity. The film-set like construction, simple colors and illustrative lines decrease the threat of the disasters making them manageable, even delightful. In many of the drawings, the viewer is placed in a position of dominance in relation to the image, looking down on the subjects, heightening the sense of control over the action of the drawings.

The depiction of architectural structures in my work is a reference to the mapping, planning, and construction involved in the process of creating fears and phobias. In architecture, plans are used to give a sense of structure, direction, an idea of what’s to come. My drawings, unlike most plans, have structural flaws, deterioration, and catastrophe built in. They acknowledge the transitory nature of planning and seek to show that total security is a phantasm. Accepting the possibility of disaster lessens the symbolic weight that ultimate destruction holds.

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