New Series of Paintings with the Iraq War

Over the last school year I have been reflecting on my time in Iraq and it is interesting to look back on my time there. During the last 100 days of my tour I recorded in 5 moleskin volumes: sketches, thoughts and my opinions of the war, the people I worked, the poeple I met and my troubles. It is painful to read these entries as I remember these feelings associated with each journal entry. But not eveything was a sad story, there were times of joy and inspiration as noted in my last entry on this blog.

So recently I decided to do a series of paintings on the Iraq War and try to put a "human face" to it. All too often I see war paintings, not just the Iraq War, but I see paintings that reflect these "super human" and over "romantic" scenes of war. Undoubtedly these painters are just taking their compositions off of the masters where it was imperative to showcase the glory of their home country's victories in battle. I am not opposed to these painting but I do not feel that people get a "perversed sense of war."

In this new series of paintings I want to showcase a war that illustrates the simple things that are sometimes joyful - like getting a letter from home. Or that can intringue you, like how I witnessed a man yell at his wife over the phone in the media center. In a sense I want to show the war from a point of view that is often overlooked because it may not be news worthy.

In any case I am looking to hear from all of you and your opinions on this series of work! Thanks!

Jerry