Steve Breen Cartoons Using Actual Oil from BP Oil Spill [Video]

Sometimes a striking image calls for a composition rendered in equal parts literal and metaphorical substance. Take cartoonist Steve Breen's BP oil spill images, which pointed out the social and environmental implications of the disaster in the pollutant itself. Now, in a video produced by Breen's own San Diego Union Tribune, Breen speaks about the genesis of his images and the actual BP oil painted into them.Breen introduces himself as a lover of drawing, history and current events, who was frustrated by the oil spill's harmful effects on the Gulf of Mexico. After deciding to comment on the disaster in a series of cartoons, Breen traveled to the Gulf himself to retrieve oil spill waste that he thinned out with gasoline and painted into his series of BP strips.

Breen's story is an interesting look at the lengths an artist can go to in order to drive a point home. In this case, his BP Oil paint's two-fold message seems well worth the endeavor.

Check out the video below:

[Via The Daily Cartoonist]