WAR
A burned canvas and a crayon memory.
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This mixed-media painting explores our early cultural fascination with war, particularly through the eyes of children. The work began with a digitally collaged composition—photobashing together images from real historical conflicts and cinematic war scenes. This composite, inspired by the structure and chaos of traditional Japanese battle paintings, became the basis for an enormous black-and-white battlefield rendered in acrylic.
Once the painting was complete, I physically intervened in the surface: puncturing holes to mimic bullet wounds and burning through the canvas with a live torch. Behind this war-torn facade is a second image—revealed only through the damage—a crayon drawing of war as imagined by a child: a soldier, a gun, a tank. Innocent in form, but haunting in implication.
This juxtaposition invites a question: Why are we so drawn to war—even before we understand it?
Why do children, untouched by violence, instinctively play at battle? Why does destruction feel iconic? War doesn’t seek to condemn these instincts, but to examine the cultural machinery that turns violence into myth—long before we realize the cost.
More Works
SQUANBERT.COM
©2025
More Works
SQUANBERT.COM
©2025
WAR
A burned canvas and a crayon memory.
Know More
This mixed-media painting explores our early cultural fascination with war, particularly through the eyes of children. The work began with a digitally collaged composition—photobashing together images from real historical conflicts and cinematic war scenes. This composite, inspired by the structure and chaos of traditional Japanese battle paintings, became the basis for an enormous black-and-white battlefield rendered in acrylic.
Once the painting was complete, I physically intervened in the surface: puncturing holes to mimic bullet wounds and burning through the canvas with a live torch. Behind this war-torn facade is a second image—revealed only through the damage—a crayon drawing of war as imagined by a child: a soldier, a gun, a tank. Innocent in form, but haunting in implication.
This juxtaposition invites a question: Why are we so drawn to war—even before we understand it?
Why do children, untouched by violence, instinctively play at battle? Why does destruction feel iconic? War doesn’t seek to condemn these instincts, but to examine the cultural machinery that turns violence into myth—long before we realize the cost.
More Works
SQUANBERT.COM
©2025
WAR
A burned canvas and a crayon memory.
Know More
This mixed-media painting explores our early cultural fascination with war, particularly through the eyes of children. The work began with a digitally collaged composition—photobashing together images from real historical conflicts and cinematic war scenes. This composite, inspired by the structure and chaos of traditional Japanese battle paintings, became the basis for an enormous black-and-white battlefield rendered in acrylic.
Once the painting was complete, I physically intervened in the surface: puncturing holes to mimic bullet wounds and burning through the canvas with a live torch. Behind this war-torn facade is a second image—revealed only through the damage—a crayon drawing of war as imagined by a child: a soldier, a gun, a tank. Innocent in form, but haunting in implication.
This juxtaposition invites a question: Why are we so drawn to war—even before we understand it?
Why do children, untouched by violence, instinctively play at battle? Why does destruction feel iconic? War doesn’t seek to condemn these instincts, but to examine the cultural machinery that turns violence into myth—long before we realize the cost.
More Works
©2025