The Disasters of War

Gino Ballantyne

Gino Ballantyne“The Disasters of War”

Foreword

Gino Ballantyne was educated at The Glasgow School of Art where he received a BA(Hons) in Fine Art. He conducted postgraduate studies at the University of the Arts, London where he received an MFA in Painting.

Gino says of his work “It seems to me that art has become akin to studying Latin or Medieval manuscripts, and to paraphrase Margaret Atwood, [has become] “a long winded sentence with a lot of subordinate clauses” “pleasant to contemplate in its way, but no longer central to anything”

Art is central to all I do and my work is about the human condition. The drawings in this catalogue engage with Goya’s concerns about our natural instinct for violence, hate and enjoyment at the misery and abasement of “others”. The drawings are my attempt to have a dialogue with Goya, and these forces, echoing his concerns and in doing so reflect on the folly of the human experience in the past, now, and potentially the future.

How does technology enable this force? and What are the forces that drive the human spirit? are questions which inform the context of my work.

Like a signal wave Technology facilitates this force with its digital medias continually being adapted by the forces of power. The digital machine constantly redefines our perceptions and reorientates our internal philosophies.” The forces of power adapting its message while promoting a message of choice and democracy. Is that message an illusion? a digital signal wave that implies truth and moral authority.

This digital signal wave is The Industrialisation of our Consciousness. Ultimately, the human spirit will be orientated by our choices to be led or to lead. Margaret Atwood would say, “Watch out for the leaders and the led..... First the leaders and the led, then the tyrants and the slaves, then the massacres. That’s how its always gone. “

Maleavalance

New WarSilently ragesThe Digital maleavalanceSignal-waveRedefiningHuman consciousnessControlled byMachinery of the StateRedefining philosophiesVariant, mongrelFreedom an illusionA “bare life” existenceIdentifiedPowerlessLawfully excludedConcentratedNietzsche’s AbyssA mirror image of deathCancerousRaging silently

Forces

Order, disorder – Chaos, RegimeChoreographed UtopiaImmediately. I dreamt,

Searing intense visions.They flew.

A figure stood in the doorway,Pointing, silently screaming.Acrid smoke burned the air.

Outside was quiet.A richochet. Blasted. The window

Came into view. Shadows ran across.

Demons smouldered, laughed A cacophony of twisted screams,

Whispered to the air.Nobody heard. Nobody cared.

Electricity flared, hissThe rhyme.

Blindfold and water forcesBridge the defences.

Suffocating and drowning all.

The PileIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

SeizeIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

ForcesIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

RescueIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

HoldIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

CrushIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

IgnoredIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Hooded PileIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

AloneIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

What’s ThatIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

FollyIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

The CrossIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

ChaosIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

The PoseIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

AnotherIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

X Marks the SpotIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

The RunIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Why?Indian Ink on rough watercolour paper

DadIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

SonIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

The OthersIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

AgainIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

TrinityIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

SeatIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

PropsIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

hoodIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

RockIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

And AgainIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

HiddenIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

The HungIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Look at HimIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

EmbraceIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

LeftIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Another HoldIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Not AgainIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

When Will it Stop?Indian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Who CaresIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

IsolatedIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Help UsIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

TiedIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

ParadeIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

DaughterIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

HeelIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

Another Pile Indian Ink on rough watercolour paper

MotherIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

FadedIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

HangingIndian Ink on rough watercolour paper

This catalogue was produced with the support of Deschamps Fine Art Publishers

for

UCMK GalleriesMilton Keynes

2012