Green II
A monumental graphite series from 2008 by M.V. Baks, drawn on handmade green paper. The Green II depicts the silent takeover of nature within the Metamelei universe, where roots break through human structures and reclaim the landscape.
Alter modernism - where technology meets nature
A surreal confrontation between beauty and decay. A skull partially buried beneath industrial waste becomes a mirror — reflecting how our systems, driven by short-term gain, slowly suffocate the very ground that sustains us.
This drawing began as a confrontation.
A skull partially buried beneath what appears to be organic mass — but not life. Not renewal. The surface is dense, compacted, suffocating. What should nourish the earth instead becomes a layer that entombs it.
In this piece, I explore how our hunger for short-term gain shapes the world we are quietly creating. The forms rise from both beauty and decay — a surreal reminder that the consequences of our choices are not distant. They are already here.
I call it Cow Shit not to provoke for the sake of shock, but because I believe we are burying ourselves beneath the consequences of our own systems. The bio-industry, mass production, political hesitation, climate denial — they accumulate like waste. What was once part of a natural cycle has been industrialised beyond balance.
The skull is not an accusation aimed at one group.
It is a mirror.
It suggests a future where the line between fertiliser and contamination has disappeared. Where nitrogen, methane and excess no longer feed growth, but slowly suffocate it. The grass that still rises is fragile — a quiet reminder that nature continues to resist, even under pressure.
Technically, the work is executed in graphite, allowing subtle tonal shifts between weight and fragility. The square format (30 × 30 cm) reinforces the sense of containment — as if the system depicted has no escape.