Tim Rollins founded the artist collective K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) in New York in 1982 with a group of children from his neighborhood in the South Bronx. Working together with a changing group of “underachieving” students, Rollins has directed numerous art projects that foster collective creativity. Working with at-risk area kids participating in the Pyramid Atlantic workshop’s visual literacy program in Silver Spring, Maryland, Rollins chose Franz Josef Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation, to be their source of inspiration. As they listened to the music, the group made drawings and prints and contemplated the beginning of the universe, moving from the void to the primal and momentous appearance of light and the ensuing emergence of heaven, earth, celestial bodies, land, sea, plants, and animals. Each of the prints embodies one of the seven days of creation.
