The Warmongering Bunnies (CM)

In 2015 there has been an intentional return to this successful series after a break of three years. The concatenation first caught the eye of art press publisher Kerrie Lena in 2011 and lead to regular  inclusion in magazines like Art Collector  and Art Edit.

This series a metaphorical deconstruction of war and warmongering through parody and humour. No matter what the political, religious or cultural differences there seems to be valour and insanity all mixed up with profiteering in the business of war. Ultimately people suffer and life is lost. The pure nature of war no matter what cloak of words and motivations are used, is useless and inhumane. In the series the artist on some occasions takes iconic war footage or imagery and supplants the bunnies over the top and changes the dialogue.

The Bunny is seen in many cultures as a central tenant to fertility. Why then is something that is meant to be fertile so destructive? What are we defending? Is the opposing religion, political system, natural resource bank, cultural practice so in need of dominating and controlling and then exploiting for profit under a cloak of well used verbal ruses? Can war mongering be made redundant? Finally can carefully re-branding  the historicity of the entire catalogue of human war into a non-partisan, mordant, razor-like and entirely comical framework in the vein of Punch Magasine circa 1841-2002  make a changing difference to the multi-national  weapon making businesses that drive the governments of our age?

In the new incantation of the series  beginning in 2015 and continuing through 2016 there is a distinct focus on world war II and Paratroopers. The series has moved to a black and white palate to reflect the photography and film media of that age. Appropriated original  black and white photographs  from  multiple air attacked cities both Allied and Axis countries are used in the background building imagery along with a repetitive graphic style of cloud and  a relentless  Paratrooper Bunnies army falling from the sky  to decimated empty rubble of former livable places. The return of Uncle Bunny in this series will happen to  speak to the atrocities of world war II and the changes it brought to society with his usual disconcerting slightly truthful statements mirrored against his sardonic wit.

The installment is finally garnered  with a  direct quote from Winston Churchill.

“We ought to have a corps of at least 5,000 parachute troops…I hear something is being done already to form such a corps but only, I believe, on a very small scale. Advantage must be taken of the summer to train these forces who can none the less play their part meanwhile as shock troops in home defense.”

W Churchill