The Siege of Homs_2012_120x90cm

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on May 29, 2017 at 9:54am

Curator’s Comments:

 

I’ve just come across The Siege of Homs, and it strikes me as topical and universal in its unrelenting condemnation of cowardly detachment.   The painting writhes in the despair of unmediated violence, with simultaneous scenes of abstracted and stylized carnage.  The tiny red and yellow dot pattern in the background layer provides what looked to be a stable grid for the ensuing battle. One also thinks of the calm practice of creating this detailed design in opposition to the conflicted imagery that inevitably followed. I appreciate the iconographic references to the hope of peace with the top right figure holding the white dove, as much as the diametrically opposite figure on the small TV in the bottom left o the picture plane.   Indeed the televised rainbow suggests all that is reported is well despite the atrocities we see.  Another interpretation could be the media taking passive delight in reporting the ongoing struggles and military confrontations in Syria. 

Comment by Lacey Roberts on April 27, 2012 at 8:23pm

I love the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse reference.

 

Comment by julie keller on April 24, 2012 at 8:52am

this is hard to look at and the title makes me squirm.  there's nowhere for the eyes to escape in the work.  years ago i saw a collection of minature black & white drawings of Goya's about war, mostly one or 2 figures in the picture plane.  i had to put my sun glasses on.