On Surrealism: Fishing for Bombs in Minnesota

An exhibit of paintings, sculptures, and other artwork by nine U.S. military veterans, titled "Surrealism and War," recently opened at the National Veterans Art Museum (N.V.A.M.), Chicago. The event runs through Nov. 1, 2014.

"Resort" by David Keefe

Surrealism was first an early 20th century cultural and artistic movement, in which dream-like images and imaginings were juxtaposed as response to rational thought.

Or, as the exhibition catalog puts it: "Surrealism is an attempt to revolt against the inherent contradictions of a society ruled by rational thought while dominated by war and oppression. Surrealism seeks expression of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason and free of aesthetic and moral preoccupation."

Got that? Crazy stuff.

Works presented in the NVAM event include that of U.S. Marine veteran David Keefe, who enlisted in 2002 and served in Iraq in 2006-2007. Among other images, his painting "Resort" co-mingles swimming fish and mortar rounds, frozen lakes and desert sand.

"I start with certain imagery, whether it’s a memory from childhood or experience from Iraq, and all of a sudden images and time collapse," Keefe says in an interview presented on the NVAM website. "I grew up fishing in Minnesota, and that’s where 'Resort' comes from: ice fishing. So it's an ice fishing scene with me as a little boy in the very front. But under the ice are these bombs that I remember from Iraq, these mortars. So the fish become bombs and the bombs become fish. [...]"

For Keefe, surrealism is a way to find similarities among cultures, as well as to make the past a more-immediate—almost explosive—presence for viewers. He says:

Simultaneously as a young child ice-fishing and as a young adult fishing for bombs in Iraq, my memories are no longer the past and develop into a new present tense. This unstable paradigm seemingly becomes a labyrinth of simulated possibilities presenting a world for my characters to contemplate and choose their destiny, yet their fate is as fragile as the convergence of bombs and ice. These paradoxes create a visual tension, and nonetheless, these bombs could explode this fragile world of ice and ruins, blowing it all sky high. In a blink of an eye, my memories, experiences and reality could all cease to exist.

PHOTO: National Veterans Art Museum

The exhibition features the work of Korean War veteran Jim Leedy, whose "Atomic Skull" and "The Earth Lies Screaming" are nearly overwhelming in size and scope. Each appears to be constructed of mud and bone.

Vietnam-era artist-veterans include William Dugan, Stan Gillett, Mike Helbing, and Richard Yohnka.

Besides Keefe, artist-veterans who served during recent conflicts include Robynn Murray, Giuseppe Pelicano, and Erhen Tool.

Pictures of the opening reception for the exhibition are posted on the NVAM Facebook page here. The organization's website is here.

Founded in 1981 as the Vietnam Veterans Art Group, the organization took on the purpose of including artists from all wars in 2003. The organization was re-named the National Veterans Art Museum in 2010. Its Portage Park neighborhood location houses the work of more than 255 artists—more than 2,500 pieces in all. An on-line collection of artist-veteran work is here.

For more information:

National Veterans Art Museum
4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Second Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60641 

Phone: 312.326.0270
E-mail: info@nvam.org

Is this a Dude Ranch, or a Forward Operating Base?

Back in 2012, I wrote a post comparing and contrasting "Summer Camp"—what old citizen-soldiers in the National Guard still jokingly call annual military training—with "summer camping."

Recently, the Sherpa clan rounded up the extended family for a week's vacation in southeastern Arizona. Soon after getting boots on ground—faster than you can say "Huachuca"—I began to notice potential comparisons between daily life on a Dude Ranch, and that of living on a Forward Operating Base ("FOB") downrange.

In other words, I felt right at home.

Here are a few of my notes:

*****

LOCAL EATERIES

• If you are eating regularly in a "chow hall," you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you are eating regularly in a "dining facility," you are on a FOB.

*****

INDIGINOUS FAUNA

• If you are on constant lookout for rattlesnakes, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you are on constant lookout for camel spiders, you are on a FOB.

*****

REQUIRED HEAD GEAR

• If you observe people who are playing cowboy wearing white Stetsons, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you observe people who are playing cowboy wearing black Stetsons, you are on a FOB.

*****

LITTLE PINK HOUSES

• If you are living in a pink building and shooting at tin cans, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you are working in a pink building and living in a tin can while other people shoot at you, you are on a FOB.

*****

BARREL ROLES

• If "clearing barrel" means executing a successful maneuver on horseback, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If "clearing barrel" means a safety device into which you pull a trigger, you are on a FOB.

• Bonus tip: If "Trigger" is your horse, you are on a Dude Range.

*****

WATER POINTS

• If drinking water is plentifully supplied in plastic bottles, you could be on either a Dude Ranch or a FOB ...

• If the plastic bottles are re-supplied daily by Housekeeping to your room's refrigerator, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If the plastic bottles are stored in bulk and located under a plywood lean-to near a corner of your building's exterior, you are on a FOB.

• Bonus tip: If there is an ice machine where those bulk plastic water bottles would be located on a FOB, you are on a Dude Ranch.

*****

FRIENDLY SKIES

• If there are A-10s flying overhead, you could be on either a Dude Ranch or a FOB ...

• If the A-10s sound friendly and outgoing, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If the A-10s sound angry, you are on a FOB.

Mil-writing Non-profit Seeks Opinion Writers for Web

While submissions to its four annual military-themed literary journals—one each for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and Post-Traumatic Stress narratives—are still on a summer hiatus, the editors of the Kentucky-based non-profit Military Experience & the Arts (M.E.A.) have opened a call for short opinion essays regarding topics related to military service, working with veterans, expressive arts and writing, and more. The opinions will be featured on the organization's home page.

In a recent Facebook post, the organization offered additional guidance:

These pieces can be written by veterans, active duty personnel, military family members, or civilian professionals working within veteran communities.

Polished, relevant works will be published directly to the MEA website and shared through our various social media platforms. By submitting his/her work, the author acknowledges that he/she has all rights to publish the material and that it is original work. Author should send at least one image for us to feature in the preview pane, a bio less than one paragraph in length, and a picture to go with the bio.

These works need to be ready to publish upon submission. If citing statistics, events, or quoting you should include links to the relevant sources. We will not do more than basic formatting to get these onto the website. Pieces not meeting the above standards will be rejected.

To submit a short opinion essay to the MEAS, e-mail: president@miltiaryexperience.org

The MEA organization regularly provides military veterans, service members, and families with supportive environments in which to develop and share their talents in writing and visual arts. For example, the MEA annually publishes four free on-line journals:

• The Blue Falcon Review: A Journal of Military Fiction

• The Blue Streak: A Journal of Military Poetry

• Blue Nostalgia: A Journal of Post-Traumatic Growth

• The Journal of Military Experience

The group has frequently been featured on the Red Bull Rising blog, including at least two previous mentions this calendar year, here and here.

*****

Note: This content regarding military-themed writing is underwritten by the Interlochen Center for the Arts' Summer 2014 series of 4-day writers' retreats, including Matt Gallagher's"From Blog to Book: How to Expand Your Web Log into a Book Manuscript," June 16 to 19. The Interlochen campus is located 15 minutes southwest of Traverse City, Mich. In addition to other published work, Gallagher is the author of 2010's non-fiction "Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War." For more information on all of the 2014 writers' retreats, click here.