Ed Ruscha’s work explores the tensions between image, words and meaning. The atmospheric background of this drawing contrasts with the sinister sentiment of the phrase written at the top of the work, and the area of dark colour which is developing upwards from the bottom of the drawing. The words also have an instructive and darkly comic tone, with lines in white as if to demonstrate the ‘spread’ of the fear. Although the softly smudged background looks like watercolour, it was created by rubbing dry pigments onto the paper.