Places | |
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Accession Number | ART96036 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | unframed: 109 x 148.2 cm |
Object type | Painting |
Physical description | enamel spray paint on aluminium |
Maker |
Jamin (Benjamin Kluss) |
Date made | 2008 |
Conflict |
Afghanistan, 2001-2021 Iraq, 2003-2013 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
Inertia # 3
Depicts soldiers and a tank silhoutted against a voluminous 'fog of war', with a serence and enveloping light filtering through the work. The work reprsents the ineretia of modern war, a continuous struggle, with no end point, no clear means of victory and no clear way to lose. The work sources imagery from the mass media so that the soldiers and tanks become generic, commenting on the diffuse nature of much contemporary warfare. Jamin (b.1976) is an Australian artist, based in Hobart. His work challenges cultural myths through the blurring of boundaries between identity, media, politics and popular culture in contemporary society. In 2008 he held a solo exhibition, 'Inertia Force Change Inertia' (Criterion Gallery, Hobart) which included a number of works exploring political identities and the interweaving of politics, the economy and business interests which the artist declared create a 'substrate and patina' upon the 'ground of history, of wars, feuds and alliances, of environmental catastrophes, of past misdeeds and valour'. Our relationships with these events are further mediated through daily occurences in newspapers, television and on the Internet (Artist's statement, 2008). This work represents the inertia of modern war, a continuous struggle, with no end point, no clear means of victory, and no clear way to lose. It also responds to Australia's ongoing military engagements in the Middle East, particularly the Second War in Iraq (2003-2011), at that time. Of this work Jamin also stated that 'it depicts coalition forces in Iraq, the image is constructed from a variety of news based source media. I couldn't say the specific nationality of the individuals as they are from a few images, though the intention is for the figures to be symbolic of western forces in Iraq, namely US, Australian and UK troops'.