concept drawings for Steve’s art show, chapter 7, Can’t Go On Without You by AgentCoop, drawings by Lasenby_Heathcote
“Ellicott City Ghost Town”.
Memory vs Reality meet in the ruins of the local Virginia landscape. Pen and Ink. 2013.
“To The End Of The Line”.
Labor vs Profit meet on the abandoned railways of the US. Pen and Ink. 2014.
“The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (Study II)”.
Hubris vs Fate meet at the division of shared histories. Pen and Ink. 2013.
“Those Who Do Not Know History (Study I)”.
Success vs Failure meet in the testing of the human capacity for endurance. Pen and Ink. 2013.
“Just In Time To Be Too Late”.
Guilt vs Blame meet in the personalisation of external horror. Pen and Ink. 2014.
“Things I Never Saw (Self-Portrait)”
World vs Self meets in acceptance of one’s own fallibility. Pen and Ink. 2015.
Steve Rogers, third year at Georgetown University’s prestigious Fine Arts program, presents “Can’t Go On; The History of Now”, a six-piece collection of traditional pen and ink.
Rogers’ art is a frank historical and social commentary in abstract portraiture that pulls back from the selfishness of contemporary art and strives to return to the era of personal involvement and social accountability in his art.
The art does not let you escape the impact of the environment it was created in. In full acceptance of the truth that nothing is created in a vacuum, Rogers art investigates the culture of the viewer, from the local to the global history, gently implying how one is the direct result of the other. This cascading effect of social consequence culminates in a very personal statement of guilt and blame that includes the viewer in its gaze. The use of a broad shouldered, dark haired man, whose face we never see, exists in tandem with dark spaces, fading into static and unease. The obfuscation of facial features is a deliberate construct making the figure an ‘everyman’. This ‘everyman’ becomes the viewer, who becomes a part of and also culpable for the bleakness in discussion.
The collection splits its commentary visually with the first act focusing on specific history the artist chooses deliberately twining the political home of the US with Rome, the greatest empires to exist in history. But this greatness is not what is on display, but the responsibility inherent in greatness.
“Ellicott City Ghost Town” speaks of local history, highlighting the economic desolation of nearby Ellicott City, where a small boy runs into nothingness, indicating the fading of life in the rural Virginia landscape. This is paired to “The End of The Line” widening the gaze to discuss the fate of the once illustrious railway system of the US. A broken rail line is turned vertically to become a ladder of success but climbing into an unadorned landscape, positing that success built on the backs of the common man that then demands them to climb leads nowhere. “The Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire” takes this act global, comparing this increasing power of our great nation to the delicate hubris that brought down Rome.
The second act is what pulls this frank historical and social commentary into the micro level and levels its unsettling gaze directly at the viewer. “Those Who Do Not Know History” bridges the acts, but its simple portraiture does not speak of governments in the title, but instead the person on the street. Its pairing of figures, one sitting tall against the other fading into shadow declares consequences for those who do not listen, and this unsettling fade to black is punctuated in the following image “Just In Time To Be Too Late”, where the shadow is broken into sharp shards that loom behind a cowling figure.
The artist does not let himself off the hook in this blame game. “Things I Never Saw” is a self-portrait with covered eyes, indicating the artists own blindness, a brave inclusion in a very dramatic collection of art works.
Can’t Go On Without You (35474 words) by AgentCoop
Chapters: 7/10
Fandom: Captain America - All Media Types
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, George Barnes, Winifred Barnes, Original Male Character(s), Rebecca Barnes, Howard Stark, only the briefest mention…
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Violence, Hate Crimes, Political Campaigns, Artist Steve Rogers, Angst, Assassination Attempt(s), Gun Violence, Oral Sex, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Stucky Big Bang 2016, Slow Burn, Childhood Friends, Character Death, Broken Bones, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug
Summary:
23 year old Bucky Barnes is back in Washington D.C. for after an extended and forced hiatus away. His father, Republican Senator George Barnes, has begun his presidential campaign and Bucky has been hired on as the office manager—a job that he is fully prepared to execute to his highest ability so as to gather the requisite recommendation letters that will allow him to get the hell out of the God forsaken city and out from under the impossibly high standards of his family.
Becoming enmeshed in the family politics and drama is not part of his plan.
Seeing Steve Rogers again for the first time in five years is absolutely not part of his plan.
Having all of his past dredged up and forced down his unwilling throat, remembering everything that happened, remembering the reason he left,
remembering Steven Grant Rogers—
the plan is shattering into a million pieces around him and there is almost nothing he can do to salvage it.
