Mark Davies

“Smart bombs, precision guided armament

A more sophisticated way to end up dead

Still we search and invent such intelligent weapons

That kill each other like the gears of war”

​

Gears of War, Dave Mustaine 2011.

This series is an abstract depiction of the casualties of modern warfare, the cost of weapons and hardware being used on soft targets. The images depicted on the canvases have been sourced from media coverage of war and the collateral damage from Coalition airstrikes. The use of hardedge painting has been applied to this work to reflect the claims of the pin point accuracy of laser guided bombs, the sharp edges of the aircraft and also aims to give the work a sense of speed from the jet aircraft. The aircraft associated with each of the works has been selected from their operational history in the theatre of war each image has come from to connect the elements. The use of RAAF markings on the F/A-18A were used to include Australia in the bombings to not just direct all blame on the American armed forces.

 

The title for this work comes from a line in the 2011 Megadeth song Gears of War, a soundtrack of similar heavy metal war songs would be played alongside the works in a larger exhibition to give more energy and aggression to the works. As it stands the aircraft hang peacefully from the air although posed in a way in which they appear to be either lining up to strafe a target or pulling away having already released their deadly payload. This peaceful energy from these aircraft is also somewhat ominous for their potential to deliver such deadly force to unsuspecting innocent civilians.