Joseph Olisaemeka Wilson: Songs About War

Gallery II

Vielmetter Los Angeles is pleased to announce Joseph Olisaemeka Wilson’s first solo exhibition at the gallery entitled Songs About War. Featuring a suite of richly layered paintings, Olisaemeka takes the viewer on a fantastical journey into his world–an imagined past of war, strife and mayhem. Rife with imagined characters, plots, and wildly inventive scenes, the paintings in the exhibition build a narrative tapestry in which allegorical tableaus string together to suggest a collective history. Olisaemeka’s cropped and dark compositions, dramatic lighting and staged arrangement of his subjects evoke the theater–akin to a Shakespearean play taking place on a dramatically lit stage in which the artist’s universe plays out.

From the Journals of Field General Wali Wallace:
 
I am a man of war! The pungent smell of gunpowder and napalm fill my nostrils. These are the spices that pepper my mornings and invigorate my senses!

My weapon is an extension of my hand and it will execute my will! A profound sense of calm has flooded my neural pathways! Divine tranquility! That is because every cog and screw of my being was hand crafted by the creator for the purpose of war! I giggle as I watch the eyes of my enemy fill with terror! I enjoy a rush of dopamine when I am faced with dangerous and terrible situations!

I am nearly impossible to kill under the rules of international humanitarian law on account of my hyper awareness and ferocity. My lapel is decorated with golden pins and colorful patches which signify my courage.

I wave the flag of my nation triumphantly in victory and in defeat! My men were chosen to seize and hold the ant hill! And we shall! Trembling with horror are the hands of the opposition! Racing and skipping are their hearts! When my mission is over I will return home to the arms of my lover! The sun will shine in my backyard again!

•••
Oh, fate!
Oh, death!

I am utterly under siege! I’m where I should not be! Soldier ants are nibbling at my extremities. The cold wind gnaws at my soul!

I was never meant to fight! I was meant to write poems and sing songs by the fire! Now I am extinguished.

Oh defeat! Why must you show your ugly face? Why must I die here, Lying in a muddy ditch? I was supposed to be in a plane, heading home to my love! She awaits me with a tender smile, I can see it now. Who will tell her of my misfortune? Who will wipe her crying eyes? Who will kiss her ruby lips? Who will feed my cat and rub her warm belly? My comrades are gone and I’m lost behind enemy lines.

The tattered flag wrapped around my shoulders keeps me from freezing to death. How vain and ridiculous! Lord take me now so that I may not waste any more good air on my final breaths! When I reach your pearly gates we can laugh and sing songs about war!

Until then I remain your humble servant,
Field General Wali Wallace