14th September 2007
The war in Iraq is inspiring artists by the dozen. We have seen films and songs inspired by the war in Iraq, now it’s the artist’s turn.
In art studios around the world from Berlin to San Diego artists are interpreting their views of the Iraqi war. The rise to the challenge has been slow to uptake but in the last year controversial Iraq inspired images, sculptures and poetry have emerged in numbers.
The torture scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison sparked Colombian painter Fernando Botero and West Coast artist Clinton Fein to respond with figurative answers in the form of giant photographic reconstructions of the atrocities.
The mixture of artist involved in this artistic uprising is interesting. There are older artists who remember the days of Vietnam and there are younger artists who have strong views and feel the need to make a stand through the voice of art.
It is Fernando Botero however that is emerging from the rest as a leader in the uprising. Botero said, 'It is a testimony, I became obsessed with the paintings, spending 11 months doing nothing but work on them. When the first images emerged of Abu Ghraib I was so shocked that a country that presents itself as the model of human rights could do this. It is like a permanent accusation. In that respect art is both weak and strong.'
Artists throughout history have responded to war with art, a great example is Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ which was a protest against the German bombing the town of Guernica in the Spanish civil war.
