12 July 2014

Anniversaries of traumas can trigger vivid memories and more:


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Bringing to mind Winslow Homer’s “The Veteran In A New Field”, Aaron Spangler's “Government Whore” portrays a shell-shocked war veteran amid the comforts of home, yet still clinging to his SKS rifle while in bed contemplating past sins. Flowers, bundles of sage, a Bowler hat, and a farm house are juxtaposed with a cow skull, animal claws, palm leaves, and an ascending soldier to create a dreamlike sequence of the rivaling environments of Vietnam and the United States....
...“The Valley Below” celebrates the peace, beauty, idealism, and magic of the undomesticated life “off the grid”, which has often become the destination of many in the hippie movement following wartime. A prominent Barn Owl, which is known to actively hunt for prey only under the cover of darkness, seems to beckon the viewer back to the land and its groves in search of a simpler way of living.
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Selected writings of mine can be found at the link.  http://hortongallery.com/exhibition/57/government-whore


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  Let's face it. This nation was not built on love and hope and equality, it was forged from blood, oil, extraction, genocide, slavery,...