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| '[dc]Victory Machine 01', Acrylics, Paper Collage & Mixed Media on Panel, 400 mm x 400 mm, 2026 |
'[dc]Victory Machine 01' is the third in my recent trio of small paintings, produced fairly spontaneously in response to the currentsituation in the Middle-East. Unsurprisingly, the war triggered by Trumpo the Clown is far from reaching anything resembling a clear resolution, and has seemingly become one of those 'forever wars' that hubristic American governments have been unable to resist down the years (and which Trump himself stood for election in supposed opposition to). Indeed, one could argue, I suppose, that the perpetual enmity between America/'The West', Israel, and radical Islam (as represented by Iran and its proxies), is the very definition of a forever war. Nevertheless, the news cycle churns on in its default state of attention-deficit (even as the on again - off again - on again hostilities seem set to crash the entire global economy, along with energy/food/medicine supplies), Trumpo is incapable of staying awake, and I myself feel like I have other artistic fish to fry over the second half of this year. Therefore, this is possibly the last of this little group, for now. Who knows if I'll feel provoked to produce any more? - I'd love to think it might not be necessary...
Anyway, as any sense of a coherent internal logic behind Trump's gesture war-mongering has never really been evident (Israeli motives may be a little more basic), the narrative essentially devolved into a futile battle over who can claim at least the perception of 'victory' in a world turned upside-down. And the current situation really seems to be one in which all good sense is inverted - given the total impasse all sides claim to be in control of. Trumpo's desperation to claim definitive victory, and an associated end to the conflict (he can no longer hope for a swift conclusion), sees him seemingly concede more and more to a nominally 'losing' side, whilst remaining unable to admit it. Meanwhile, Iran, whilst denuded of much of its original leadership and traditional weaponry - and with much of its infrastructure seriously compromised, has proved itself able to hold the world to economic ransom and demonstrate an ability to subvert any illusory peace 'deal' at will - stripping the American regime of yet more status and credibility in the process. Just as is simultaneously demonstrated in Ukraine and Russia, any clear notion of 'winners' and 'losers' in modern warfare, or of the power dynamics between them, appears much harder to divine of late. No wonder then, that the struggle to control narratives becomes paramount, when events and facts themselves prove so intransigent. In the context of Iran, can anyone really be surprised that a repressive fundamentalist theocracy might be a match for a narcissistic game-show host when it comes to propagandising? [1.] Perhaps it was always thus - but truly, this feels like the spirit of our age, in all its spectacular delusion.
Analysts are keen to point to this conflict (and to the parallel Russia/Ukraine one) as defining the very nature of 'asymmetric warfare' in the twenty-first century, and so it seems only fitting that images of an Iranian drone and an American fighter jet should take flight across the surface of my painting. The tools each side might employ to gain the upper hand are clearly no longer equivalent in scale, sophistication, or indeed, cost. The degraded field beneath them contains yet even more comprehensive allusions to the idea of 'corruption', as well as fragments of text from Reza Negarestani's 'Cyclonopedia' [2.] (both discussed in my previous post) - along with a barely-discernible mapping of the strategically critical Straits of Hormuz. As before, this painting also employs an element of oily varnish, and multiple weapon-site motifs, for obvious reasons. The latter are somewhat smaller now - but also more numerous, helping to reinforce a slightly greater 'all-over' quality in this painting. If that contributes to a sense of reduced resolution intelligibility - that's perhaps only appropriate.
[1.]: I note that Iran's recent multi-day funeral demonstrations for its slain Supreme Leader (as reported, at least), appeared to model a scale and supposed unity of purpose only dreamt of in The White House.
[2.]: Reza Negarestani, 'Cyclonopedia', Melbourne, Aus, re.press, 2008
