My last push of artistic brilliance in during my time overseas. Initially, the compound I was on, I had my own room and bathroom, my own space to get away from our daily grind and you don’t appreciate those small things until they’re about to be taken away from you. Things were about to change.
I’d been in Afg for over at year at this point and, on first arriving, was a bit underwhelmed by our accommodations. At least until the guys I was with told me how luxurious they were. It was 3 years that would allow me explore a lot about myself in a situation with very strict parameters.
With most of my day structured, what free time I did have I was able to start playing with my creativity, looking around and seeing what I could do with my surroundings. Money, for the first time, wasn’t an issue and I was able to have art supplies shipped in.
Large boxes were a plenty and I was able to cut up and scavenge the cardboard. This particular project was focused on play and the impermanence of art. Museums go through great lengths to preserve and restore artwork, but for the majority the ravages of time and the elements will disintegrate the majority of efforts. None of this was created to last beyond the record of a photograph that it ever existed.
I used inexpensive materials, like cut up cardboard boxes and a few boxes of illustration board I was given. I could work large and not worry about the preciousness of the effort. I bought acrylics, watercolors, markers, and large brushes and went at it…lol…i also worked digitally exploring on my iPad and laptop.
By AUG14 we were being re-located to a new compound where we would no longer have our own rooms. We would be sharing an 8×20 container with 2 other people. I wasn’t going to have room to store my amassed hoarde of art supplies…lol…or the work I’d created.
There’s a movie still needing to be edited together of the footage I took of me burning all of this. Offering up the effort to the gods and muses that inspired it.
An offering to the impermanence of art and inspiration…lol…
