WILLIAM HARRINGTION
Opening Reception: Friday, June 4th 5-9pm
Open from June 4th - July 9, 2021

Oh, oh deep water, black and cold like the night
I stand with arms wide open,
I've run a twisted line
I'm a stranger in the eyes of the Maker.
~Daniel Lanois

The Soldier/Artist

William Harrington was the leader of Vietnam Combat Artists Team VII from 1967 to 1969; one of six artists assigned to make paintings about the war, often from the front lines. These young artists accompanied infantry patrols on reconnaissance missions while trampling through rice paddies, swamps, and jungle. They were free to roam the war zone, equipped with sketchbooks, paints, watercolors, pencils, and Eastman Kodak 127 brownie instamatics. They were granted tremendous artistic license and two instructions: be expressive and stay busy. Combat Artists date back in history, obviously daring because their task was daunting. The American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was a "special artist" of the Civil War; he traveled and lived with soldiers executing artworks as a "news correspondent." During the Second World War, British artists Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore, Paul Nash, and Stanley Spencer shared a similar distinction. US Combat Artists, in wars as recently as in Iraq and Afghanistan, rallied to the refrain: “Go to war, do art.”

William Harrington, WARP ca. 2000