18th Street Exhibition Shows Effects of War

Marty Horowitz, Grenades, mixed media with gold leaf (2006).
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Marty Horowitz, Grenades, mixed media with gold leaf (2006).

The 18th Street Arts Center concludes the 2008 exhibition series, “The Future of Nations,” with “War As A Way of Life,” curated by Pacific Palisades resident Clayton Campbell. The exhibition opens on Saturday.
Featuring a group of international and California visual artists, the exhibit examines the phenomenon of how people who are exposed to long-term effects of war are transformed. Using photography, video, mixed media, and painting, the artists look at how war, whether abroad, in American neighborhoods or within families, is affecting future generations’ perceptions of themselves and their communities.
“War can be in Iraq, it can be in our own city, or it can be in our homes,” Campbell says. “Whether it is a misbegotten foreign adventure run by incompetent politicians and corrupt industrialists; a neighborhood terrified of the gangs that control it; or our own psyches polluted with media images of slashers, serial killers, and pornographic action stars, violence is undeniably and unpredictably transformative.”
“‘War As A Way of Life’ is being presented during an intense election year,” Campbell continues, “for the future of the nation is not clear, and an understanding of what is happening to our collective psyche is critical to real transformative change, both positive and proactive.”
The exhibition includes works by Susan Crile, Binh Danh, Barry Frydlender, Catherine Opie and others. “Threshold of the Innocents and Martyred,” an installation in the project room by 18th Street 2008 Artist Fellow Amitis Motevalli will also be displayed.
Campbell is an artist and arts organizer who has been with 18th Street Art Center since 1995, and is the organization’s artistic director. He specializes in international cultural exchange and artist residencies and is the artist residency advisor. In 2002, the French government awarded him the distinction of Chevalier, Order of Arts and Letters for his international work in the field of arts and culture.