By: Tara Storozynsky

War is a theme chosen by artists because it of its raw and naked emotive power. There are many nice, cheery things that an artist can take inspiration from in this world, although perhaps you’d fancy something a little darker as summer fades away.  The 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California opened the exhibit “War as a Way of Life” on Saturday — a breath of pessimism: works inspired by the horrors of war.

Highlights included Daniel Ruanova’s brilliant little Untitled sculpture of a gun dripping with red and white stripes, pressed into dozens of gold soldier figurines. Bright, shiny, and pop-sensible, the little piece was instantly one of my favorites. The ironic combination of children’s toys is dark yet still playful. It’s a big, bright gun overpowering several helpless little individuals (probably suggesting a little something about our foreign policy), but it still manages to be accessible and light. It grabs the viewer with its cheery colors and explosive form, only to create a nasty little feeling in your stomach upon examination.

Artist Susan Creele, on the other hand, took a less cheery approach, creating two lovely, desaturated pastel drawings of wounds. Seared is a person’s back, simply and gently drawn in muted colors, with garish bloody marks popping out from a pale background. Mangled shows a young woman standing nude, resting one arm, which is cut, bruised, and disproportionately swollen. Creele makes a point to not show the face of either subject, perhaps to show that, in a war-torn world where everyone is “seared” or “mangled,” the identity and story behind these marks are lost, and their wearer becomes another faceless victim. These pieces draw the viewer in with subtlety.  The figures’ lines are simple, pretty, and organic, whereas the wounds are sickeningly realistic explosions of red and white pastel, with a little green and purple thrown in for good measure of decay. The two works are mournful yet vivacious and expressive, pretty and provocative.

The one work that absolutely astounded me, however, was an installation piece by Los Angeles-based, Tehran-native Amitis Motevalli. Titled, Threshold of Innocents and Martyrs, the piece is reminiscent of a traditional Shia shrine, created as a memorial to victims of “global power-mongering.” There is a tidy little prayer space with a small white carpet and lit candles surrounded by glass and enclosed by four walls, expertly carved with faces of those senselessly killed by police brutality here in Los Angeles. Motevalli showed me around the shrine, knowing the story behind each portrait she had so perfectly captured. She stopped at one, introducing me to the dead man’s face as if he were just another guest at the opening night. “This is Bill,” she gestured to him gently. In the same way one might say, “He’s a photographer,” or ,”He’s a good friend of mine,” she explained that “he was killed by the Los Angeles police department before they ever questioned him. An officer mistook him for a suspect and promptly shot him in the back.” The intricate carvings took two months, but she tells me that, altogether, it took a year to do all of the research work needed for her piece. It’s a highly moving installation — very impressive in its commitment to detail as well as its message.

“War as Way of Life” also includes incredible tapestries depicting Rodney King and Border Patrol, dark and dirty scrapbooking, and various other little pessimistic gems. If you feel like exploring artistic expression that is direct in its message, check out this impressive exhibit which will be up until December.

Top Image: Barry Frydlender, Waiting, Chromogenic Print, 200

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