Benjamin Aitken Untitled 4

Western soldiers have certainly lacked training for contemporary military life – a fact which, of course, has led to some of the more hideous missteps of particular conflicts. Booze and drugs, especially heroin, have been a big problem. I was far too young to have experienced my family’s military misadventures, but I was old enough to smell the napalm of its incendiary cultural outpourings. Appropriated cartoons of conflict, soldiers and politicians seem cathartic as the aforementioned missteps creep into my studio.

Benjamin Aitken, 2020