The Art Of War 2011

Curator: This is Dave Macdowell's "The Art Of War," a mixed-media piece from 2011, acrylic on canvas. Visually, it's... striking. What's your first reaction? Editor: It's apocalyptic, in a strangely serene way. The butterfly, the poised figure... all while the world burns behind her. She is the eye of the hurricane. A weird juxtaposition, violence and peace intermingling on a canvas, don’t you think? Curator: Absolutely. I find it useful to think about how the artist blends both realism and surrealism here. Notice the detail on the guardian lion statue contrasted against the abstract landscape with elements of graffiti art blended together to set an erotic and violent mood? How might Macdowell use these techniques together, reflecting on social issues through his artistic process? Editor: I wonder if Macdowell saw a tension, perhaps in his own life, between beauty and destruction? Or maybe he sees conflict itself as transformative... like fire burning away the old to make way for something new. Blood letting space for renewal. That butterfly could mean anything. A kind of freedom or fleeting thing of wonder after chaos and all the pain passes us by. Curator: Thinking materially, consider the mixed media Macdowell uses. Combining acrylic with... something else that gives it that textured feel, makes us think about not just what is depicted, but how it’s depicted. Is the labor, the process of making, contributing to the commentary on erotic violence that the subject seems to embody? How consumption relates to creation? Editor: Yeah, almost like each brushstroke is a tiny battle. The tension comes, too, from the pose, her eyes lifted, but the sword still clutched. Surrender? Acceptance? Or gathering strength? A symbol to start another violent war to become a survivor? What’s your take on the social commentary you mentioned? Curator: Perhaps it suggests society's complex relationship with violence. We glorify it, consume it in media, even as we suffer its consequences. Her nudity could represent vulnerability laid bare, while the sword represents power. She becomes the landscape itself. Editor: So much to think about…It’s like he distilled the rawest human experience, pain, power, surrender…all on one canvas, lit by the light of a single butterfly. Food for the heart and soul. Curator: Indeed. Macdowell's process asks us to engage with these hard questions about production, destruction and peace through the intersectionality of identity in artwork itself, where something new comes of something old, a phoenix rising.