There is new art titled “Theories” in Anthony Freda’s gallery here.
There are also two recent new paintings in Shelly’s album here.
As always, new artists are welcome to show work here, just use the contact form at the top. Artists with work already in the gallery are also always welcome to add more. Just send it in or provide a link to it.
There is new art in Mary Perry Stone’s gallery here.
According to her family, the images are of anti-war paintings that will be displayed at the MAda Shell Gallery in Ashland, Oregon beginning Friday, May 6th 2011.
“The first two paintings are the “Horror of War” (with the brutalized face) and ” So You Love War”( body parts) Mary completed both paintings during the Vietnam War . “Working for a Just World “is my theme for selecting the work for it was why Mary was a social protest painter . [also there is a ] third image which is a detail from the mural “Capital by Force and Violence” done in 1994 which will also be shown.
. . . . In her later work while in her mid eighties and beyond she wanted to spell out the connection between Capitalism and War in a number of her murals.. As far as the Vietnam work, I’m not exactly sure how many murals Mary did during the Vietnam War but there were a number ” Comment on Vietnam” No. 1. for example. ( She did actually two murals with the exact same name. . . . )”
Soon after we all were told that the U.S. is flat broke and can’t even afford heating assistance for the poor, we get involved in yet another expensive war. How many millions is this costing the U.S. and all the countries involved (most if not all who claim to be having severe financial problems) and how many lives will be lost? We always seem to have money for bombers and bombs, as though those things take precedence over everything else. This time around, I also noticed that most media anchors and even the reporters were heavily pushing for a war to start. CNN International was the worst perpetrator of a constant push for war before the bombing began. (Of course, they stand to profit from their coverage of a new war, since many people are “bored” with the old ones.)
All-American Warmonger by Shelly L.
France fired the first shots in the new war with Libya, but the Obama Administration was close behind, with US warships firing upwards of 120 Tomahawk missiles at targets inside Libya. The strikes came largely overnight, and exactly what they hit is largely unknown.
The reports however, suggest that at least some of the missiles hit civilian areas, and initial reports are that the attacks have killed at least 48 civilians and wounded 150 others.
Obama termed the attacks a “limited military action” officially, but the massive series of strikes suggests the administration is already going far beyond the “no-fly zone” mandate and is well on its way to demanding Iraq-style regime change.
This is a new poster called Freedom by artist Mark Vallen. His blog is Art for a Change and in his latest update he writes:
Along with people all over the world, I have been profoundly inspired by the heroic Egyptian people’s struggle for democracy against the 30-year old U.S. backed dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. As an expression of solidarity I created a digital artwork titled “Freedom,” so named because the word appears in my graphic in Arabic, Spanish, and English; my creation is dedicated to the people of Egypt, with hopes that their democratic aspirations will soon be realized.
I have published my artwork as a flyer-sized broadside meant to be distributed internationally. I invite one and all to download and print a free copy of my 8.5 x 11 inch full color artwork, which I hope will be used to advance the movement for true freedom and democracy. Please disseminate this artwork widely in the “not for profit” spirit in which it is offered.
The 5×7 inch image contained in this newsletter may be posted on websites – please link back to www.art-for-a-change.com
New art opportunities as of January 18 2011. From Professional Artist. (formerly Art Calendar)
| Opportunities with Entry Fees | |
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As anti-war activists we have protested, gathered at vigils, stood together in the rain, snow, and heat. We have been arrested, harassed, and shunned. We have been told to “shut-up,” or “shut-the-expletive-up,” “now’s not the time,” and “don’t you know we’re at war?”
But we have persevered.
And so has war.
Operation Enduring Freedom, a military operation with the bravado to outlast us all, will turn ten years-old on October 7, 2011, and one can be certain there will be much honor and memorial made to the events of September 11, 2001. Unfortunately, there was not an antiwar movement before that day in September. There was discourse, thought, and underlining apathy to war given a lengthy reprieve from major warfare. At the time, the last major U.S. operation had been the 1991 Persian Gulf War, though there was significant warfare during the U.S. and NATO involvement in the Kosovo war in Yugoslavia and our U.N.-backed, peacekeeping intervention in Somalia which lead to the much criticized warfare in the Battle of Mogadishu.
Whereas, there is a history, and on the days leading up to September, a coalition of people, from all nations, who support, or at least accept the idea of the cultural necessity of warfare. Every war has been, is, and will be a lie. History has proven that the buildup to war is done secretly, privately between countries and/or nation states, and that once man takes to battle the public has already been duped by the lie that war is the only option. Every military campaign is rooted in a past discourse, with bargains made for wealth, land, slaves, and natural resources.
Our history as a species is stained by the bloodshed for power; we are a killing beast which will use the sword for such transient concepts of culture, religion, and nationality. But, not a single death, civilian or soldier, has ever been worth the human cost of war. A cost that, ultimately, confirms that the differences that make mankind a unique species will also be our worst trait. With somber reverence, presidents and leaders have ordered war as the last resort to conflict, with little to no discussion to any other means. The reason is because man is driven to war, thirsty to exert the power of our weapons, the strength of our fortitude, and the primacy of our national beliefs.
The antiwar movement cannot be tasked with ending the war, but it is our duty as antiwar activists, writers, and artists to end the campaign for war. With the War on Terror acting as an umbrella for continual warfare with any nation or group that supports terrorism, it is time to call for an end to man’s thirst for blood.
However, the cultural normalcy to war is a terrifying obstacle in the success of the antiwar movement. Asked about the number of civilian casualties in Iraq, General Tommy Franks remarked, “We don’t do body counts.” As horrendous as this remark was, the truth is that we will never know the numbers of civilians killed in any war, which has been termed by so many military scholars and strategists as just “collateral damage.” More recently, civilians killed in the wars have been deemed unfortunate to live in or near a war zone. Such rhetoric has become accepted vernacular, to the point that younger generations raised under this War on Terror umbrella are, fearfully, becoming more adaptable to a war culture.
Because the future generations, which will undoubtedly murder and die in the next wars, led and determined by the veterans of our current war society, the lives of all people are at risk. The antiwar movement is against war, not only the current conflicts, but all war, even those yet to be imagined. We do not need a war to be against it, we are against the very essence of it.
Protesting the war is an act of futility, it is too late to stop war once the first shot is fired, and the antiwar movement is not blind. We know that taking to the streets will not stop today’s murders in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Pakistan, or here in America. But our words, our art, and our voices are all necessary to desist the societal acceptance of war and to prevent the next one from conception.
Do not be silent.
Speak out today. Speak out tomorrow.
Our lives depend on it.
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I was delighted to find this site. I was getting to the point thinking that there were a only perhaps a few anti war / social artists out there. And while war still is an unfortunate reality, I very seldom see anti war art in MSM.
At any rate, just wanted to say hello and familiarize myself to the blog/site.
And thank for putting the site up.It’s so needed.
Submitted by artist BD:
Video: The War You Don’t See
John Pilger says in the film: “We journalists… have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else’s country… That means always challenging the official story, however patriotic that story may appear, however seductive and insidious it is. For propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home… In this age of endless imperial war, the lives of countless men, women and children depend on the truth or their blood is on us… Those whose job it is to keep the record straight ought to be the voice of people, not power.”