andyshepart: Artillery Pieces (moral(e) codes)

The political masters on all sides involved in conflict invoke God as they head along the path to war. It's convenient to place the reason for killing at the feet of an unquestioning and unaccountable higher power. The different artillery pieces and their unique camouflage patterns illustrate the involvement of different countries in the war. I have three on show here but there are two more representing France and Italy that aren't fully resolved. These are also a development from the Defence Net Work pieces as the layout of a camouflage net features strongly and the sentiment behind the pieces is along the same tracks. The background here is made up from a verse from Ephesians 6 translated into the naval flag alphabet and this is continued in the morse code which can be seen woven through the camouflage net. The verses have been translated into the relevant language for the corresponding artillery piece. The whole piece made from five images is meant to be displayed horizontally. The initial idea has all five pieces joined together.

British BL 6" Mk7
Watercolour,gouache and pen on paper

German 10cm Kanone

Watercolour, gouache, Tippex, pen on paper

British BL 6" 26cwt Howitzer

Watecolour, gouache, Tippex, pen on paper

The completed set of four paintings

The texture and semi-abstract nature of these images is quite a departure. For most of my life my approach has been hyper-realistic.

There's a definite influence of several artists here such as Sarah Morris, John Squire, Jasper Johns, to name a few.

Although these are pieces in their own right, they were always meant to be colour roughs for much larger pieces. Enlarging allowed me to drop the paintbrush for a palette knife and work much more vigorously and directly rather than labour over it with a brush. I found a book on Hans Hoffman in a second hand bookshop whilst on holiday last summer and I'm enjoying bringing his impasto technique and use of vibrant colour into these pieces.

It's a convenient by product of the broken up backgrounds of these images that they have a certain stained glass look to them.

German 10cm Kanone, Mk2
Acrylic, varnish, gum arabic on canvas board

The increase in size here allows me more freedom to explore textures and different media. In keeping with the theme of hidden messages already alluded to by the inclusion of the naval alphabet and morse code, I added parts of the relevant Ephesians verse translated into German then into Binary code by printing numbers coated with gum arabic and gloss varnish onto the surface of the paint. This allows the addition of more layers of information without interfering with the paint surface which I am quite happy with.

Detail of German 10cm Kanone, Mk2

These two enlargements give a better idea of the texture of the paint. The black and white pole on the right of the image is an artillery sighting pole used in WW1 for judging distance. I've included it here as I like its almost ceremonial appearance, like a staff of some sort carried by temple priests. As long as there has been man there has been worship and conflict.