From Truth to History
Oil on Toy Rifle
2003
From the series illustrated here utilizing found objects to discuss the corrupting influences of war on culture and memory. The muzzle of the weapon and its issue are the instruments of Truth. The recoil absorbed by the stock and transmitted to the firer is the memory of its effect, History, subject to interpretation as the actuality of the effect recedes into the past. The weapon is covered with generic scenes of violence, rape and degradation common to warfare in general, depicted in the modern mechanized idiom that marked the Twentieth Century. These are rendered with an appropriate stylistic homage to the great German painter, Otto Dix.
Available for purchase.
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Mixed Media
Combining traditional mediums, found objects and unconventional materials, Joe plays, explores, and stretches his relationship to his work. Each object has been synthesized in concept and execution from the ordinary and the evocative into an artifact with a life all its own.
