Louie Laskowski

In Greed We Trust
acrylic on WWII uniform
72 x 43 in.

I am painting on a United States WWII Army wool uniform. My father served with the Army’s one hundred and first airborne division in WWII and I plan to paint his uniform someday. This soldier’s uniform, bought from Ebay, is a trial run for my father’s. I am using a “Tattoo” look since soldiers often get tattoos and tattoos are spiritual in some cultures. From a vintage Chinese scroll I found two powerful symbols to represent my reflections on war, the Dragon and Tiger.

This painting is about need and greed, death and suffering, power and control. Specifically it relates to our hunger for oil. We get most of our oil from the Middle East. It is not by accident that we are now fighting for “Freedom” in the Mid-East. We must feed our hunger. Goya is the artist I looked at most to set the tone for this undertaking.

© Louie Laskowski