MONUMENT TO THE UNBORN WAR HERO

“With the tools of democracy, democracy was murdered and lawlessness made "legal." Raw power ruled, and its only real goal was to destroy all other powers besides itself.”
― Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

I've been on here for over 3 years now, and I had posted much of my art before, but today I like to refresh memories of my early post of this painting on Steemit, clumsily put together at that time. It is about a canvas that at least at the time I created it in 1975, was the largest canvas I had painted. I subsequently exhibited it in my first solo exhibition in Calgary, Alberta, Canada the following year, and it resonated with the art critic of the (now defunct) Albertan Newspaper, the late J. Brooks Joyner that he wrote a glowing review.

^{MONUMENT TO THE UNBORN WAR HERO - acrylic on canvas 100 x 86 cm - 1975}

One painting that seems to summarize Rapp’s attitude is his Monument to the unborn War Hero. A large painting which includes scenes of brutality; tyranny; the soldier in various historical periods; images of Hitler; human sculls; alarming pictures of wolves; warplanes overhead and a very bold nude female figure giving birth to what appears to be a crucified figure of man. It is his visual summary of the consequences of war. Rapp is an accomplished artist, and like so many European artists who have settled in Canada, he has a strong command of modern surrealist imagery.

^{critique by J. Brooks Joyner, Editor Visual Arts, The Albertan, Saturday, May 29th, 1976}

Posted on my Pixels site it has been viewed 68,561 times, more than any of my other works posted there, and to date is my second best seller for prints. Unfortunately I did not have a good enough photo of it for printing full size.
The painting was sold in Alberta, Canada, a long time ago. The photo I have is a 8x10 inch analog that I scanned. Actually lucky to even have a photo: in those days the majority of my work was sold without any photographic record of it.

Find it on my Website HERE

The meticulously painted fetus, the subject of this painting, I had used in a variety of ways after that in digital creations, for one, as a recurring New Years Greeting where I combined it with a frozen waterfall (this years edition):

SH109401pssmallbaby in icehappy new year2021.jpg
^{BABY IN ICE - first used it as a New Years card in 2012}