battle of the bulge

"battle of the bulge" oil, oil stick, cement, spray paint, toy soldiers, assorted material on canvas 183 x 132 cm. 2001 artist's collection


close up detail

daddy bush had soundly defeated the baddie of baghdad and america was on its war footing. its a mindset my country seems to relish: the war on poverty, the war on cancer, the war on drugs, the war on terror; doesn't seem to win any of them but that's another story. anyways, it was 'in the air'. i visited my mother during this time and was going through some junk i had stored and happened upon these plastic soldiers i played with as a kid. plastic nazi soldiers goose stepping! how twisted. i thought i could use them in a painting so i took them back with me to my studio in nyc. on the internet i found a company that makes highly detailed metal tanks about 2 cm. long, tigers, panzers, shermans, etc. so i combined all these elements to illustrate the battle of the bulge from a bird's eye view. the b.o.b. was the last german offensive in WW2, dec. 1944. in heavy snow the germans launched their surprise attack through the ardennes in a last ditch effort to repel the allied advance into germany. (they lost) in the painting i tried to imagine what it must have looked like from a low flying airplane. tanks leaving trails in the snow, the bold advance, the chaotic response. architectural model shrubs make up the foliage and globs of paint make up the fire.