rebel:art

Gerald Laing, “Capriccio”

“A capriccio is a sudden start, motion or freak. A free, fantastic style, a prank, trick or caper. A thing or work of fancy. 1696: Phillips. ‘Capriccios are pieces of music, poetry and painting wherein the force of the Imagination has better success than the Rules of Art’. This painting is full of paradox and ambiguity. These qualities encourage abstract thought, and allow the eye and the mind to wander and speculate. Thus it becomes possible to avoid thinking about the surreal arrangement of the human figure, and the internal life of prisoner. Formal concerns become a sort of anaesthetic, or at least a way of re-composing the reality of Abu Ghraib.”

Gerald Laing, “Only One Of Them Uses Colgate”

“What has happened to my American Starlets of the early 1960’s? Evidently some of them have joined the US Army. Here is one gesticulating triumphantly over the battered corpse of a dead Iraqi in Abu Ghraib Prison. She wears rubber gloves to protect her hands, but not from domestic dirt. She looks as if she might be an ad for toothpaste. We know the American dental fetish for perfect teeth. There is a marked difference between hers and those of the victim. The corpse was wrapped in what appears to be an Arab Airlines plastic bag. I took the liberty of substituting the Colgate logo in commemoration of Bush’s immortal words at his first press conference with Blair. When asked what they could possibly have in common, he replied, “We both use Colgate”. Even so, and as one would expect, Bush’s teeth are far more even and white than Blair’s.”

Gerald Laing, “Look Mickey”

“This painting refers to Roy Lichtenstein’s first essay in cartoon-based art. In his painting, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are fishing. Donald Duck has accidentally hooked his own rear end and is excitedly tugging at his rod – hence the caption. When the image of Lynndie England humiliating an Iraqi prisoner was published, America hooked its own … I have treated the soldier and the prison as though they were an anodyne part of a Disney film; perhaps Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Iraqi is shown in the second-hand but subjective reality of half-tone.”

Via: Gerald Laing