Tag Archives: pop culture

guernicaron-english-guernica-05ron-english-guernica-06ron-english-guernica-04 ron-english-guernica-03 ron-english-guernica-07ron-english-guernica-02ron-english-guernica-08ron-english-guernica-01A series of paintings by street artist Ron English, putting various pop cultural spins on Picasso’s 1937 anti-war masterpiece (top). Sez he:

I approach the Guernica template cognizant and reverent of its meaning and cultural significance. It is a visual shorthand for the overwhelming and gratuitous horror of modern war. But I argue that the cultural takeaway of Guernica is actually the opposite. It transforms incomprehensible tragedy into a cartoon narrative, something we can more easily absorb. This is part of the human process, to distance ourselves from the immediacy of undiluted, overwhelming emotions by overlaying a narrative that simplifies, and in effect, takes us down from three to two dimensions. And this is the underlying concept that I grapple with in all my many versions of Guernica.

faithistorment