Ultimately, the artist is drawn to the so-called promise of the architectural imagery of spaces like fallout shelters and how they get defined through our collective memory. More specifically, the artist mines the difference between real life and the aesthetic tricks various authorities use to numb, soothe, or distract populations from actual or perceived disasters. Adam Liam Rose explores architecture’s visual language of “safety” within a practice that spans sculpture, installation, video, and drawing. Meanwhile, a growing energy forcefield emanates from the center of the cave. Below this stage lies a cavern with stalactites and stalagmites. This drawing depicts a crater forming on top of a stage as theater curtains open to reveal a glowing moon in the distance.

It draws inspiration from “The Family Fallout Shelter,” a manual distributed to the American public in the 1950s through the US Department of Civil and Defense Mobilization, which guides the process of building a fallout shelter at home. This work is part of a series titled Stages of Fallout that encompasses compositions on paper in graphite, charcoal and gouache.

Fallout shelter online art