As we destroy the species around us, we lay the path toward our own dark future. This painting was inspired by an article I read that described the many thousands of species Mankind has driven into extinction. While it can be argued that this is part of the natural selection process, one could also state that our level of intelligence puts our species on a higher level of responsibility for the less sentient creatures who often stand beneath the bulldozers of our continuing development. In this painting I've used the Buffalo as the tragic symbol of mass extinction. The background has a small herd of them marching off into their uncertain future. The man in the foreground wears a Buffalo skull in celebration and victory as he ushers the animals forward. However, his body (and state of being) is becoming unbalanced and will soon fall forward into the same abyss.