Grimsby Public Art Gallery, Tobey Anderson: January 30 – March 14
The New American Century Project
Tobey Anderson
January 30– March 14, 2010
In The New American Century Project Anderson seeks to expose the cultural vacuum surrounding the current “War on Terror”. Since the events of 9/11, he has looked to the media as inspiration for this on-going body of work, using appropriated images and colours inspired by the glow of television to cast a new light on the subject.
Anderson says: Much of our everyday life seems vacuous and superficial when considering the current preponderance of violence and warfare, in which we are complicit by virtue of government propaganda, policies and practices. The events of September 11, 2001 threw the Western world, and particularly America, into massive social shock, allowing brokers of globalism to further their ambitions and entrench us once again in the mire of war. One way of countering this complicity is to look beyond the surface to unmask the filters of media.
The images I have represented in The New American Century Project are all mediated and remote: politically, physically and emotionally. While we are distanced and detached from the realities of the warfare and natural disasters we view daily in the media, we are more connected to the most horrific of global events on a minute-by-minute basis than ever before. By and large, the North American public is saturated with media coverage and by the Internet, but disengaged from the realities of war. Until and/or unless people are directly affected by such events, life in the West goes about the business of commerce and daily routine disconnected from the chaos, mayhem, and brutalities of the so-called “War on Terror”
As commentary on the “War on Terror” Anderson started painting individual portraits of the dead and wounded from both sides; the portraits are presented in an ever expanding, wall covering grid that brings a systematic and solemn order to the chaos of war, but also reflects the death toll that continues to rise. Several of his larger scenes, again based on images appropriated from the media, will also be included.
Admission is free, donations are appreciated.
Grimsby Public Art Gallery
18 Carnegie Lane, L3M 1Y1
905-945-3246
www.town.grimsby.on.ca
