Smoking Soldier 2014

Curator: This is Billy Childish’s "Smoking Soldier," completed in 2014, and rendered with acrylic on canvas. Editor: It strikes me as… raw. Almost violent in its energy. The colours are stark and smeared, and the figure seems to be disintegrating before our eyes. Curator: Childish is very interested in the figure of the outsider. His paintings often depict marginalised figures, probing questions of power, authority, and alienation. The soldier, in this context, can be seen as emblematic of state-sponsored violence and trauma. Editor: That red of the helmet is very assertive. Is it meant to evoke the color of aggression, dominance, or perhaps sacrifice? The dripping paint adds to a sense of urgency—the idea of something bleeding, both literally and figuratively. The white drips almost look like tears or a kind of cleansing? Curator: You're noticing a crucial dynamic. He paints with a directness that borders on aggression, but then the use of white almost suggests a contradictory effort toward purification or redemption. This resonates with a longer tradition of depicting soldiers as simultaneously victims and perpetrators. It seems crucial to explore the representation of masculinities within military and its discontents, too. Editor: So, by representing this soldier, stripped down and vulnerable, he is challenging stereotypical heroic representations? Exposing the human cost beneath the uniform? I find the title interesting, also. Smoking is about oral fixation, something rudimentary in terms of psychoanalysis, which speaks to some regression in the image. Curator: Precisely. The everyday gesture of smoking becomes a symbol of anxiety, addiction, and coping mechanisms. It serves to disrupt traditional military portraiture and introduce more nuanced perspectives. We can also discuss the intersections between masculinity and violence more openly through images like these. Editor: Yes, this raw visual language has an emotive power of authenticity, inviting us to reckon with some uncomfortable realities. Thank you! Curator: Thank you.