Art Rec: like a spider in the centre of its web
Title: like a spider in the centre of its web (also on tumblr)
Author: sophistry (AO3) / still-sophistory (tumblr)
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Verse: 221B Baker Towers
Author's summary: When the greatest enemy is not a man, but the machine.
Reccer's comments: 221B Baker Towers is an open universe in which Holmes and Watson are contemporary young black British men from a council estate. Sophistry, the originator of the universe, gives a nutshell description in another artwork for the 'verse, "You See, But Do Not Observe":
[...] Imagine fandom’s reaction if the next big Holmes adaptation to come along had Holmes and Watson as British, yeah - young black British men, living case to case on a council estate in a dodgy area of London. How fandom would react if Sherlock Holmes didn’t employ street kids and homeless people like trained animals to do his bidding, but instead was part of that invisible underclass; if instead of having his eccentricities ~tolerated~ by Scotland Yard on account of being the Great White Genius, Sherlock Holmes, BME, school dropout, and sometime addict, was regarded by the police as practically a criminal already, one more thug, one more junkie, one more dealer in the making...
"like a spider in the centre of its web" extends sophistry's original idea to "The Final Problem." It depicts a tiny, lone figure in a hoodie on Westminster Bridge, his shoulders hunched against the looming presence of the Houses of Parliament. It is captioned with the FINA speech about the "mighty organisation" that Holmes is pitting himself against, the organisation that will trod him underfoot.
The graphics-work is subtle and effective. I particularly like the blown-out whites, blacks, and red: we're presented with a moment where everything has been pushed to its limit and something must give. I also like the queasy, slippery, double-vision aura applied to both Westminster Palace and the storm clouds above it -- an aura which serves the additional purpose of quietly picking up Holmes' red, visually integrating his figure into the work even as that red sets him apart.
But as much as I like the graphic itself, considering it as a premise for a story... It raises the hair on my arms. Oh, but I would love to hear the story that sophistry suggests. I want to hear it very much.
More info about (and fanworks for) the 221B Baker Towers 'verse can be had at the fandom tumblr: 221b-baker-towers.tumblr.com.
Author: sophistry (AO3) / still-sophistory (tumblr)
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Verse: 221B Baker Towers
Author's summary: When the greatest enemy is not a man, but the machine.
Reccer's comments: 221B Baker Towers is an open universe in which Holmes and Watson are contemporary young black British men from a council estate. Sophistry, the originator of the universe, gives a nutshell description in another artwork for the 'verse, "You See, But Do Not Observe":
[...] Imagine fandom’s reaction if the next big Holmes adaptation to come along had Holmes and Watson as British, yeah - young black British men, living case to case on a council estate in a dodgy area of London. How fandom would react if Sherlock Holmes didn’t employ street kids and homeless people like trained animals to do his bidding, but instead was part of that invisible underclass; if instead of having his eccentricities ~tolerated~ by Scotland Yard on account of being the Great White Genius, Sherlock Holmes, BME, school dropout, and sometime addict, was regarded by the police as practically a criminal already, one more thug, one more junkie, one more dealer in the making...
"like a spider in the centre of its web" extends sophistry's original idea to "The Final Problem." It depicts a tiny, lone figure in a hoodie on Westminster Bridge, his shoulders hunched against the looming presence of the Houses of Parliament. It is captioned with the FINA speech about the "mighty organisation" that Holmes is pitting himself against, the organisation that will trod him underfoot.
The graphics-work is subtle and effective. I particularly like the blown-out whites, blacks, and red: we're presented with a moment where everything has been pushed to its limit and something must give. I also like the queasy, slippery, double-vision aura applied to both Westminster Palace and the storm clouds above it -- an aura which serves the additional purpose of quietly picking up Holmes' red, visually integrating his figure into the work even as that red sets him apart.
But as much as I like the graphic itself, considering it as a premise for a story... It raises the hair on my arms. Oh, but I would love to hear the story that sophistry suggests. I want to hear it very much.
More info about (and fanworks for) the 221B Baker Towers 'verse can be had at the fandom tumblr: 221b-baker-towers.tumblr.com.