Roger Brown
Killer Crab, 1986
Oil on canvas
48 x 72 x 2 1/2 in
121.9 x 182.9 x 6.3 cm
121.9 x 182.9 x 6.3 cm
4861
While fantasy and science fiction were generally not of great interest to Roger Brown as a source for content, the kitschy excess of old Hollywood, dramatic ambitions of comic books,...
While fantasy and science fiction were generally not of great interest to Roger Brown as a source for content, the kitschy excess of old Hollywood, dramatic ambitions of comic books, and hyperbolic exaggerations of circus posters all inform this piece, depicting a gargantuan crab terrorizing panicked beachgoers. Brown would revisit "kaiju" scale terrors later on in his career as he looked more to freakshow banners, paintings like Mothra at Inner Circle Drive (1988) and Social Butterfly (1990) having whole cities dwarfed beneath winged leviathans. The motif may stem also from his Christian upbringing, with apocalyptic pieces like Beast Rising from the Sea (1983) bringing sober Biblical wrath to the compositions, moreso than monster movie campiness.