The Marine Corps’s Combat Art Program - NYTimes.com
So many great quotes in this article, many of them simply about being an artist out in the world (not just the military).
What good is an artist?
“The Marine Corps is more like a tribe than some corporate organization…and the combat art program, we’re like the shamans. We’re the ones who take this experience and try to articulate it.”
What to draw?
“When you go over to the Air Force,” she said, “the art is all airplanes. In the Navy it’s all ships. Army art tends to be more about the battle, and the Army loves trucks. They’re fixated on vehicles. But the Marine Corps is fixated on Marines.”
Why not just take a picture?
“If you and I are in the same firefight, what you see and what I see are two different things, based on our own background and experience….When a photograph is taken of a battle or any type of scene in combat, you see the image. But what the artist does is he takes that image and interprets it.”
What is art for?
It’s the pact we make with the warrior: You will live forever and we will remember you…and to me the best way to do that is through art. We can’t give him his life, but we can give him that immortality.
Thanks to Laurence for the link.
betzistar
