The Art Newspaper

AMY , BOURNEMOUTH

These paintings do not glorify the man or the violence. They are images of a real event. They give us a glimpse of humanity at it's rawest. The brutality of the man and his regime, the pain of the people, the way the media glorified what happened and we all watched as it was 'news'. They present the defining reality that death is bigger than us, we have of power over it regardless of our power in life. It comes to us all, whether violently for the world to see or quietly and alone. And don't they tell us something about the pleasure we find in others demise? Personally the media coverage of his death saddened me, not because I felt anything for him for who he was but purely becuase he was a human. The murder of anyone should not be celebrated in my opinion, regardless of their life choices or impact. And ultimately the fact remains not that we like dead bodies but that we love the depiction of these events in the media. We are the problem, not the paintings.

DENNISPOTOKAR.COM, LOS ANGELES

Wherever there's an opportunity, there's an "artist". This glorifies the man and extends the spectacle of violence. Such art is part of the problem, not any sort of healing or solution. Too much like photography and appropriation, the painter as photoshop.

NAILA KETTANEH-KUNIGK, BEIRUT

this reminds me of the baader and Meinhof paintings bye Gerhard Richter. thesis work feels speculative because these artists were not directly involved in the past with political events

LUCY NORMAN SPENCER, ARLINGTON, VA. U.S.A.

Without a title, he would be just another victim of violence. Titles create class distinctions to impress viewers. Millions die with no status to their rotting corpses. Do we like dead bodies?