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|
 |
 If
it's organized violence like an army and it's going to justify
its actions then it ought to behave really well, especially
if it has absolutely overwhelming power - they don't need to
use whips and boots when they've got Nepalm, surely? |
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Gerald
Laing
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An eminent
artist and protagonist of the pop-art era, Laing equally basks in
bronze, famed as much for his representational sculptures today as
his iconic oils of fast stars and hot women in the sixties. His return
to oil on canvas for an all new exhibition after nearly thirty-five
years has created a bit of a stir in the art world, not least because
of the highly controversial subject matter, The Iraq War.
Outraged by the war, he's produced a series of paintings depicting
the fall out and recreated the notorious images displayed in the world
press of Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad. The large oiled canvases shudder
with beauty and horror where candy-like colours seduce the eye before
fast-assaulting the brain with telling subject matter.
So, what was the story?
"My initial reaction [to the images in the press of Abu Ghraib
jail] was to remember that I used to paint images of these sorts of
people in the early sixties; astronauts, pilots, drag racers, starlets,
skydivers, those sorts of people, as an heroic idea and these were
the same people that I was painting 40 years on doing something quite
incongruous.
"The first painting I made was this one, The
 |
| Gerald
Laing with "Only one of them uses Colgate" 2004 |
Colgate.
Even in the original photograph, superficially, it had the elements
of a photograph that was advertising something domestic; first of
all she's got green rubber gloves as though she's working with some
sort of detergent and she's got that iconography of attraction, sort
of American suburban attraction - you know blue eyes, kiss curl, big
lips and she's gesticulating over the battered body of a dead Iraqi…but
her teeth…are perfect! It reminded me of that moment when Bush
and Blair had their first press conference and nobody thought that
they'd get on and a reporter asked Bush what they had in common and
Bush said 'We both use Colgate!' and I thought, what a wonderful piece
of humour first of all, and secondly, we're back to the old American
thing about perfect teeth."
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| "L'Apres
Midi D'Un Faune" |
[Now standing
in front of "L'Apres Midi D'Un Faune" which shows a prisoner
daubed in his own excrement in front of a prison guard] "According
to the Geneva convention, prisoners of war should be treated with
respect and fed and clothed and looked after to a reasonable standard.
I'm shattered and surprised that so much violence goes on…I never
thought that was the case - I think there is the odd moment when somebody
behaves badly, but it's supposed to be controlled.
"Where are the officers [referring to the image], if there are
any officers? Actually, we now know that this is a strategy, isn't
it, in the war against terrorism? But I just don't buy the idea that
prisoners were stripped in the Second World War or had things like
this happen to them. This is so crude isn't it? Look how pathetic
it is to make a man stand in front of you smeared with his own excrement,
what a stupid bloody thing to do and how diminishing for you. It's
quite interesting that the Iraqi had a rather beautiful and graceful
body and even in his humiliation is graceful and the American guard
has got his big beer belly hanging over his belt, a pointy head, an
awkward stance and looks really as though he doesn't know what he's
doing except that he's got a large truncheon and a pair of gloves.
"The point [of the exhibition] is that they're for me, first
of all. I just painted them because I wanted to paint them but now
I realize that they are saying something that people want to hear
and there are different ways of saying it.
 |
| "Look
Mickey 2004" |
The main
thing is, and this is the really important thing about art as well,
is that when an artist paints or sculpts an image he immortalizes
the image.
These paintings are permanent. They're not a newspaper photograph.
The Abu Ghraib incidents are now immortalized and they will finish
up in people's collections, in museums hopefully, they will always
be there, they will be in art history books already so what I'm doing
is sticking it in their face…so they can't escape or bury it
- that's what the artist can do. It's a small thing but it's a something.
I think that artists have an exaggerated idea of their effect on politics…but,
the fact is that when Colin Powell spoke at The UN, they covered up
the tapestry of Guernica they've got there…so it must have an
effect…that's my view and that's my point of doing them."
Passionate that the world should see the images and be constantly
reminded of the horrors of war, Laing doesn't seek approval, nor forgiveness
for the oppressors, just to immortalize the moment.
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The
exhibition was on at King's College Cambridge. To find out
where it's currently on show, click on to Laing's website
for the latest.
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