Tag: Drawing

Hi, friends.

This piece was started in 2022 and was just recently completed. It’s called Journals of War, about war, politics, and the gore of war. Picasso’s Guernica highly inspired it.

About the Guernica:

“Pablo Picasso’s famous painting Guernica was created to express his outrage over the Nazi bombing of the Basque city of Guernica in northern Spain during the Spanish Civil War. The bombing occurred on April 26, 1937, when Hitler’s German air force bombed the city in support of Franco. The bombing was the first aerial saturation bombing of a civilian population.

The painting depicts the anguish caused by chaos and violence, and shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts on individuals, particularly innocent civilians. It has become an international symbol of genocide committed during wartime, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace.

The painting is known for its powerful portrayal of universal suffering, especially that of innocent victims. It has gained a monumental status and has become a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war.”

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The foreground features scenes of outstretched, swollen, bruised, and deformed limbs and hands and organs, crisscrossed and crushed with tank and tire treads. Animals, baseball cards, and government forms are visible throughout, representing politics and teams as they track wins and losses. The background and substrate are constructed from collage materials that I considered precious at the start, reminders of the present moment and past moments of joy, slowly worked over and made illegible with washes, inks, and colors.

In describing my piece, I have written that the hands, limbs, eyes, and organs are the scenes of victims of war. Fingers and skin are crushed and burned into barely recognizable forms. The landscape is littered with the precious debris of life, covered in ashen colors. In the foreground, we see humanity, all interconnected, all ripped to shadows, shreds, and tatters. Bulls, ducks, a giraffe, and a dead hummingbird in a motionless hand represent the inadequacy of politics and the act of choosing teams. If you look closely, there are baseball cards and government forms throughout. The political players look on in ignorance, overseeing all the horrors they’ve allowed, if not caused.”

It’s very dark compared to many of my other recent works, but the news of the war in Ukraine and further unrest weighs heavily on my mind. May all beings have peace.

Thanks for taking a look! May you have peace.