Nuclear Ballet

I started and finished this piece around the time of the 20th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster.

I recently sold this piece and they buyer wanted a statement from me regarding the concept of Nuclear Ballet. The following is what I wrote for the buyer:

Nuclear Ballet

I started my painting Nuclear Ballet, just a few days before April 26, 2006 which was the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The entire week before April 26th I had been closely following the coverage and reading about the environmental, health and cultural impact this disaster has had on the world.

The nuclear meltdown provoked a radioactive cloud which flew over Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but also the European part of Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.

Surprisingly, many species of wild animals and birds, which were never seen in the area prior to the disaster, are now plentiful, due to the absence of humans in the area. Which is why I included a robin and a duck (although it is a rubber ducky) in the picture.

Nuclear Ballet also references the nuclear tipping points we still live with. Although now it is no longer Russia and the United States playing the MAD (mutually assured destruction) game (or the dance) but other participants as well. Namely, Pakistan, India, N. Korea and others.

The ballerina in the painting is from a print of an actual ballerina with 1 1/2 arms. It's a large print and it hangs in my wife's office. When we bought the print we were told the ballerina was Russian, which reinforced my concept that exposure to radiation causes radical deformities and health issues.

The decay in the painting symbolizes the end of one era and the beginning of another. Which could include the end of man and the reinstatement of nature's superiority over man's self-conceived dominance. Even something so terrible as a nuclear disaster cannot stand up to nature's desire to reclaim the earth.


Terence Ulrich