http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=36980&int_modo=1
Showing a solider in a “vulnerable and personal pose” doesn’t strike me as controversial, but typical, within the arts.
“The billboards ask viewers to think about soldiers, about the human cost of war and about the psychological struggles of veterans and their families, and then reach their own conclusions.”
Well, who doesn’t do that? As someone who was against the Iraq war from the beginning, even I get tired of people thinking those who were for it were simply so, because they didn’t “think” about the human costs, psychological struggles and families long and hard enough – and of course a billboard of a man with his face on the ground will do the trick.
Context can be a valuable asset in appreciating a piece of art, which ever way you come to approve or disapprove of the particulars – in this case, war. Cropping a solider (or any professional for that matter) to his/her psychological struggles could minimize a fuller understanding, and maybe even appreciation, for those struggles.
