Cruelty is the Message (Red variant)

As is a common theme in Cleon Peterson’s works; ”Cruelty is the Message” displays clashing figures symbolizing a struggle between power and submission in the fluctuating architecture of contemporary society. Initially, the print seems to show the interior of a jailhouse or prison during a riot; prisoners being brutalized by law enforcement, of some sort— many lying helpless on the ground while being struck. It is only upon further viewing/processing, it is apparent that the landscape is not a place of incarceration but the outside world; store fronts with security bars, fire hydrants and liquor bottles litter the streets, both men and women line a chaotic landscape on this LARGE hand pulled screen print (almost four feet wide). Many would agree, in this day and age; between the big brother esque governments of the world, the uncertainties, traumas and overall dystopian realities many of the largest metropolitan cities world wide face in 2024 — perhaps incarceratio