THE ACCUSED

SOLDIERS SEARCHING A FARM

NIGHT CHECKPOINT IN BAGHDAD

Baghdad Journal

Steve says:  "These paintings are based on experiences and impressions from 11 months in Iraq.  I went there four times, from April, 2003 to October, 2004, spending about half of my time embedded with various US military units throughout Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle.  I also got to know many Iraqi artists in Baghdad, who I hung out with on each trip.

I was drawing and painting in watercolor throughout these trips, but looking for compositions for oil paintings that might go beyond simply recording daily life and tasks. I wanted to distill something essential about the drama of war, beyond right and wrong.

These aren't anti-war paintings.  They aren't political.  I'm not trying to address the morality of war, or George Bush's foreign policy agenda.  I went to Iraq because I wanted to know what being in a war zone was like, and paint about it from my own subjective experiences.  The events in the paintings are either things I saw or things that happened nearby. "

BUY STEVE'S BOOK

Steve Mumford began his artistic journey after ditching his University of California anthropology classes to seek the real thing, trekking to Peru and Brazil where he wound up sketching indigenous life and people.  He has since earned Masters degrees from Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts and New York's School of the Visual Arts.  But he would probably say that most of what he applies to his art has come from real-life journeys and the observations therein.

Mumsford's art is exhibited in prestigious shows and galleries nationwide, and he has been featured in numerous publications and television shows, including  the ABC and NBC News.