Portraits of the New American Century

Tobey C. Anderson

92 - 2' x 2' panels, acrylic & florescent paint on wood, begun 2005.
Canadians killed in Afghanistan
Collateral Damage/Iraq civilian casualties
Americans killed in Iraq from Iowa
Anonymous "Foreign Terrorists"

2 - 4 ft x 6 ft paintings: "Torture" #1 & 2, acrylic on canvas, 2008


Portraits of The New American Century
Tobey C. Anderson

October 23 - November 2, 2008
Opening: Thursday, Oct 23, 7 pm


Portraits of The New American Century: Collateral Damage. K_IA, Foreign Terrorists, KIA_CA_Afghanistan
96 - 2 ft x 2 ft panels, acrylic & florescent paint on wood, 2004 - present


As a Vietnam Era deserter from the U.S. Army, Tobey C. Anderson holds a vested interest in contemporary war. As a Canadian visual artist, he has looked to the media since 9/11 as inspiration for the salient details of The New American Century Project, an on-going body of work begun in 2004. Aware of the gaps between the images of the war seen through the media and the actual war itself, Anderson casts a new estranging light on the subject of “The War on Terror”. Portrayed in the RBG colours of the video screen from which the images were appropriated, the dead are lined up and gridded off in a darkened venue. This grid brings a systematic and solemn order to the disorder and chaos of the war.

The work does not encourage viewers to impose their own politics onto the people and events portrayed.
Instead, it upsets the balance of right and wrong and takes us to the core of humanity. Melancholic, but not nostalgic, this work creates a void. The loss is experienced on all levels: the loss of family and innocence, the loss of power, and of faith, but most importantly, the loss of humanity. This reclassification of the dead and wounded is not an attempt to memorialize as in the pictorial halls of fame, but to commemorate the personal pain and collective loss. To avoid sentimentality, Anderson deliberately undercuts these emotionally charged images with sweeping brush strokes, graphic lines and florescent paints. Reminiscent of the glow of the television, the aura evokes a haunting, unnatural tension.

Using the language of the media as a tool and influenced by night vision technology, Anderson exposes the
cultural vacuum surrounding the “War on Terror”. This installation is illuminated with black light in a dimly lit room. The individuals portrayed are appropriated from the Internet and media. Some images have been etched into our consciousness from as early as the apocalyptic morning of September 11th. Although the paintings reveal the popular culture from which they are borrowed, they reclaim and heighten the loss and horror of the destruction.

Tobey C. Anderson is a St. Catharines based artist and Founder of the CRAM Gallery & Collective. His “New
American Century Project” has been touring Ontario since 2007 and will be installed at the St. Thomas – Elgin Public Art Centre November 15 – January 11, 2008. Forty-five paintings of Canadians killed in Afghanistan and Shock & Awe Trilogy from The New American Century Project are in the permanent collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre – Queens University.

www.tobeycanderson.com