Beschreibung:

Adam McEwen Bomber Harris 2008 acrylic and chewing gum on canvas 64 x 48 in. (162.6 x 121.9 cm) Signed and dated “A. McEwen 2008” on the stretcher.
Provenance Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels Catalogue Essay Bomber Harris, 2008, is from a series of chewing gum paintings named after German cities destroyed by England and the United States during World War II. McEwen’s acrylic-washed white backgrounds are spotted with wads of chewing gum, spat out, some vibrant, others flattened and dirtied by the soles of feet. The speckled canvas offers an aerial view of the attacked German landscape—Lübeck, Darmstadt, Kassel—illustrating the patterns of falling munitions. As seen in the variations on the canvas, some areas are blasted with thick lumps of blackened gum, while others are spotted with vibrant pink and green pieces, exposing the canvas beneath the obliterating heaviness of the sticky substance. The gum spots illustrate the explosions which annihilated the cities and citizens included in the devastating campaign. The aerial view of the willfully destructed cities finds an odd and absurd realization in these canvases, which at first seem to serve as portraits of the pedestrian sidewalks of urban cities. Bomber Harris was the nickname prescribed to Sir Arthur Travers Harris, Marshal of the Royal Air Force during the latter half of World War II. In 1942, the Cabinet agreed to the area bombing of German cities and Harris was charged with implementing Churchill’s directive and developing tactics to perform the instruction more effectively. Bomber Harris was one of the key figures in carrying out the United Kingdom’s most devastating attacks against Germany. His choice of targets remains controversial to this day, in large part because of the huge number of civilian causalities and destruction that this strategy caused in Continental Europe. In explaining this series of gum paintings, McEwen says, “For somebody of my generation—the late ‘60s and early ‘70s—World War II was what boys knew about. There were these little war comics as well as military pornography floating around the school. We were taught war history. Britain’s identity as victors is very deep—you grow up with it, as well as funny, ridiculous and racist images of Nazi Germany. Vietnam meant nothing to us. It’s a practical thing. The effects of WWII are still here today. As is the relevance of exploring war and victory during these turbulent times.” (Adam McEwen in I. Scobie, “Death of the Installment Plan,” Artnet, September 8, 2006). Read More