War Artist: Arabella Dorman

War Art has been of a constant fascination to me since I was a small child. I wanted to be one -- an odd thing to want to be really. One of my favourite galleries is the Imperial War Museum's long term exhibition gallery, which houses some of my most inspirational war artists: the Nash brothers, John Piper, and Graham Sutherland.Whatever else war is -- shocking, destructive, sad -- it makes beautiful and haunting images.

Challengers Crashing Out

Arabella Dorman went out to Iraq in 2009 as a war artist. As the Telegraph article points out, the only other female artist to do this was Linda Kitson, who went to the Falklands war in 1982. In her "Frontlines Statement" Dorman argues for painting war, rather than depending entirely on film and media: 
"A painting on the other hand has the potential to ask more from the viewer. It asks for an emotional engagement, it asks us to move beyond pure documentation and literal description, into a quieter evocation of something more timeless". 

(http://www.arabelladorman.com/

Waiting in a Warrior, Basra Place

Dorman is a bit hit and miss with me. I think some of her work is fantastic. I also find a portion of it terrible. The ones I have used on this blog I really like. However, her concentration on the soldier's experiences of war is really interesting. Especially looking at the "quieter moments" rather than just the "big bangs"

Homecoming 

Here is the Telegraph's interview with the artist: 

And another very interesting audio interview with the BBC: here