Gothic Tradition

Some covers of juvenile thriller and mystery novels by the American illustrator Charles Geer. Ruins are used here in the British gothic tradition as icons of mystery, suspense and horror.

America’s Decay

This editorial was publishes by Vogue Korea in July 2008. It shows America in full decay. An abandoned motel and a gas station somewhere lost in the desert, kind of American dream. And probably an Asian romantic vision of the West.

Haunted House

An old abandoned Art Nouveau mansion in Spain. It burned down some years ago and is now recovered by the vegetation, a really enchanted place.

Don’t call me babe

Pamela Anderson in the post-apocalyptic film Barb Wire (1996), which is kind of a bad Russ Meyer version of Casablanca.
O.K., I know it’s a really bad movie, but Pamela looks good in her leather outfit and tries really hard to be cool. Maybe she’s got only one good sentence in the whole film "Don't call me babe!", but it’s not the worst I have seen over the years.

Max Ernst's Dark Visions

Two variations called "The Entire City" (1935 and 1936) by the German Surrealist painter Max Ernst (1891–1976). I have no doubt that this city is an abandoned ruin, large dark and menacing, a remnant of a ancient times.

Country in Ruins

Surfing the web I stumbled upon this amazing video by Sarah Blackwood.
I didn’t know the music before, but when I saw this girl wandering through ruins, rescuing old dummies, I was immediately fascinated. And the music counts among the best what I have heard in the last months.



LONELY PARADE on Youtube

Post apocalyptic Western

Jeremiah is a Belgian comic book series by Hermann Huppen. In a post-apocalyptic world, where racial wars have destroyed the USA, Jeremiah and his friend Kurdy are facing a series of adventures. The post-apocalyptic USA are depicted as kind of Wild West with some modern weapons.
Despite Jeremiah was very successful in Europe the series never was a success in the USA. Maybe it’s despite all the Western scenery too European after all. Nevertheless there was made the American television series Jeremiah based on the comic books.

Forgotten Worlds

Some more of the impressive artwork by Frederick Catherwood, who visited and painted the ruins of the Maya civilization in the 19th century. His paintings have the enchantment of a long forgotten world.

Metro 2033

Metro 2033 is first-person shooter game elements. Based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. In a post apocalyptic world you have to fight mutants in the dark tunnels of the metro system.

Graphics and animation are really great. Maybe it’s a little surprising that a Russian computer game is still so strongly influenced by Stalingrad.

Decorative Elements

Recently I stumbled about this nice piece of postmodern decoration. Some doors to a public park were produced with great efforts that they look like they were half broken by rust.
But it’s all a typical romantic pretension of decay.

Best is the contrast if you see these pieces in their real modern environment.

Crude Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary is a crude comic book series written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra abot an nun who is also a highly trained soldier. Returned to New York she finds it destroyed by foreign facists She fights the enemies, turning more fascist like these.

Anyway it’s an especially stupid comic, only of some interest because the iconographic Lady Liberty in ruins provides the whole topic of it.

Tim Burton’s Post apocalyptic Fairy Tales

In the film "9" – produced by Tim Burton – an apocalyptic war between human and machines had destroyed human life and left only ruins, the deadly machines and some living. burlap dolls.
It’s a beautiful film with the typical Tim Burton esthetics, illumination and fascination of morbid decay. So there a lots of impressing ruin sceneries.

John Pugh’s Trompe-l'Oeil Ruins

John Pugh is an American artist best known for his large trompe-l'oeil wall murals. Many of his murals show broken (ruined) walls revelaing some kind of classical architecture behind them. Funny is, that the old architecture is shown fully intact and not as ruin, which would probably its actual condition.

Post-Apocalyptic Dogs of War

The great Humungus, the Ayatollah of the Rock and Roller is gravely disappointed and unleashing his dogs of war.

And here we have the oldest fried and true companion of men.

Yeah I liked an still do the Road Warrior. It imposed new standards on the whole genre and was full of dark humor and cutting irony.

The Ruins of Samuel Bak

Samuel Bak is an Israeli artist (born in Poland 1933) who stands in the great dark symbolistic tradition of Zdzisław Beksiński. Sure that Bak not is as dark and threatening as Beksiński but they share their obsession for ruins, which at least in Bak’s case is related with the experience of the Nazi occupation of Poland.
Typical for Bak’s paintings there are also as chess pieces and sometimes dices as recurring subjects.

Kind of Steampunk Fashion

Here the Brazilian model Bruna Tenorio was shot by the fashion photographer Geoff Barrenger for the Ports 1961 Fall Winter 2010 Ad Campaign.

She poses in an old factory 19th century style. It’s especially this kind of industrial decay which gave the photos that fashionable steampunk look.

Remaining Signs

Two sience fiction cover illustrations of the 1960s. Both are using the ruins of human monuments to indicate that there happened a great disaster. The first looks like if thare where too much water, which has flloded great parts of the world. On the second there’s no water at all and sand is covering the the impressive monuments of mankind

Ruin Decoration

Especially temple ruins are very popular to decorate aquariums. Naybe they shall remind us of great disasters like Atlantis.