Before Chris's show had officially been opened I would walk by the gallery and just stare at that giant red parachute covering the entire entryway. When I finally got to go inside I was really unsure of how to get around the parachute, I didn't want to touch it because it almost reminded me of a jellyfish and I just didn't want to disturb it. But after getting around it, I was confronted with yet another giant jellyfish parachute and giant canvases of stamped tanks and planes that led me around the corner and into an animation of little bunnies and kitties shooting guns and bombing each other, and participating in other war-like activities. There was an animal sitting at a desk with his little "music box" of war figurines spinning in circles, and around the corner from that was a giant tank & little animals in tiny tanks surrounding it, all brightly colored. There was a scene of the same animals shooting each other made of felt, with very bright, vibrant colors, almost like something you'd see in a children's book or movie. There were little creatures flying jet planes and homeless "people" with signs saying they needed money or jobs, there were giant prints of scans of the little felt creatures wearing gas masks. There were also sounds of war, people speaking through intercoms and whatnot.
I really liked listening to Chris talk about he's reasons behind his art. He talked about how this body of work was really a critique of war, not just American wars but war in general. And how it's really very grim and depressing, but he uses bright colors and animals in a way that makes war seem almost approachable. But you still get the scary aspects of it as well. Chris actually graduated from the same high school as I did, so I got to talk to him about any art classes he took as a high schooler, he said he never really thought about art as a career in high school, at least not seriously. I also thought it was cool that he's traveled to so many places, so his artwork really does represent all types of war from different countries.
My interpretation was very much the same as what Chris was trying to say through his art. I really liked that he took a very serious, and grim topic and turned it into something that people can talk about without feeling uncomfortable. But, like he said, it's also kind of what toy industries do with toys. Little kids can play with toy soldiers and tanks and "play war" and think that it's fun, but when they actually participate in combat they wouldn't really think that its too much fun anymore. I think that the way Chris displays his work is really awesome, because he uses different mediums from 2D to 3D to video and sound, it's exciting to be put into this "environment" of his art.
