WAR IS PEACE

 

I read this book..

The Unfinished War: 

Vietnam and the American Conscience

Walter H.. Capps

Beacon Press, 1982

Veterans of the war..

it said..

were damaged further by the lack of a proper welcome home..

and appreciation for their service..

and that the folks at home did not want to talk about the war..

and sought to sweep it under the carpet..

at the time of writing no memorial..

had been agreed upon..

and as such..

I was attempting to respond to this using..

oil paint on canvas..

however..

there is now and has been for many long years..

a truly great monument in place..

The black granite wall of names is one of the most familiar media images associated with the war, and after three decades the memorial remains one of the nation's most visited monuments. While the memorial has enjoyed broad acceptance by the American public, its origins were both humble and contentious. A grassroots effort launched by veterans with no funds, the project was completed in three and a half years. But an emotional debate about aesthetics and the interpretation of heroism, patriotism and history nearly doomed the project.

anyway..

I steamed ahead in the studio..

with my idea for a series of paintings like the one above..

There were to be 10 in all..

and each one was meant to represent a mood or state..

of american love or hate or grace..

remember pearl harbour..

and the american resolve and response..

these paintings are not political but emotional..

emotional states of a nation..

anyway..

STATES OF GRACE

AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

obviously..

none of this got anywhere..

per usual..

still I played around with the idea..

for some time..

and also..

this url

hope you got this far..

and liked the story..

it occurs to me that all the technology on display..

in the photo above..

was not available in 1982..

and will soon be superseded by newer stuff..

technology becomes obsolete so fast..

in 40 more years..

these devices may not exist or be so changed as to make these items..

laughable..

the painting though..

will have aged hardly at all..

and the idea will still resonate..

and lastly this url

IT'S CURTAINS FOR PETER

yo!.. naval gazin... innit!

THE SIMPLE MURDER OF ART

this is a painting from..

figures in a souk..

but really it's also from..

EAST 100TH STREET

yes it fits with the souk..

but the single figure reminds us..

of the little girl in the bruce davidson photo..

and so today we are going to..

investigate a mystery..


MEAN STREETS


In everything that can be called art..

there is a quality of redemption.
It may be pure tragedy,
if it is high tragedy,
and it may be pity and irony,
and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong man.

But down these mean streets..
a man must go who is not himself mean,
who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

1979

evidence from the sketchbook..

you can see top left a simple drawing..

of a take on the bruce davidson photo..

and other ideas I had based upon the..

window, cutains, blinds..

there is a tv also..

and that is important too..

so..

the paintings..




this is our ian modelling..

yes it is a real old glory..

yes it is a funcioning roller blind..

interactive innit!




yes it is the silver surfer..

and the tv image is from..

philip jones griffiths

and the little boy behind the curtain..

is our paul..

the blue tarp. is real and so are the red ropes..





the yellow rose of texas..

draws a curtain across the ever creeping mission..

so that was in 1979..

I wrote this at the time..


KING ELVIS HAS SURELY COME

no child can see..

without the object being obscured by the image..

the tv and the radio and the movies..

have drawn a curtain over the world..

that no x-ray specs can see through..

and a mythology has grown..

that is stronger and makes more money for someone..

than all the gods of asgarde or olympus..

the greeks (ancient0..

had no 70mm dreams..

to rival the panavision..

of the youngest of our sons..

the vikings never had a god as powerful..

as the one that gets 60 minutes..

of tv time on sunday..

circe has not the special effects of..

 the bbc, itv, nbc and metro-goldwin meyer..

nor did any visionary of the past..

see as far as superman..

nor did any plagues of egypt..

pour as many plagues on man's imagination..

as the six o'clock news..



CURTAINS CARPETS AND FIGURES IN A SOUK

work in progress 2018 ish..

and who the fuck is peter anyway?