New Geopolitical Paintings
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Friday October 19, 2012 20:29
by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin - Artist
caoimhghin at yahoo dot com
The News in Art
A series of oil paintings examining the daily existence of people in the worst working, living (and dying) conditions in the global economy.
"Tolerance slides easily towards indifference, as the efficiency of the economy becomes the only shared commitment. Similarly, compromise turns readily into complacency, when the familiar seems safer than the unknown. 'Neutrality', it often turns out, is not neutral at all, but sides with the way things are to avoid the dissension that might lead to change for the better. Consensus, then, may come into conflict with justice." (Catherine Belsey Poststructuralism)
This ongoing series of paintings looks at conflict situations around the world. It is made in solidarity with the people involved in the struggles presented and seeks, like international journalism, to portray and analyze events as they are happening. This is not easy in visual art. In the narrative form the elements can be read one after another. In visual art the painting tells a story by encompassing all the elements in one composition. While some paintings do focus on one aspect of a particular conflict (the victims of conflict), in the main they seek to portray the opposing groups in a single image.
