Battleworn
oil on canvas, 66x72
2002
Artist Meikle Gardner
Collection of Dave and Pat Gesell
Meikle Gardner is a painter that coordinated exhibitions and associated art happenings in the Edge District during the late 1990's and early 2000's, including Marshall Arts Gallery. Battleworn was influenced by the U.S. military actions in the Persian Gulf during the early 2000's, and his sense of visual fatigue from seeing the media's saturated coverage of it. In his own words "Though the image is more of a first World War helmeted soldier, it speaks of the trauma, the distress, and turmoil surrounding warfare, regardless of the era. There are scratched letters, blurred thoughts, and fragmented memories inside the confines of the helmet and the head surrounded by a field of blood red."
