Painting of Archers

"Stalemate" (acrylic on stretched linen 96"X24")

Artist: John Potter

This painting is about proxy wars and the way they are commonly manipulated by superpower countries to the point of quagmire.

Proxy conflicts are usually funded by superpowers to a point of equilibrium rather than victory. This helps keep their superpower rivals militarily and economically depleted while avoiding an uncertain future without that rival superpower in place. The end result for the proxy nations is prolonged conflicts with high casualty rates. The soldiers of the proxy nations become like pawns.

One of the reasons I made the costumes so ornate and outrageous was so they wouldn't be associated with any one cultural, national or racial group. I also used the costumes to poke fun at the pageantry and ornamentation like patches and medals that are used to motivate soldiers.