Work in Focus: Jake and Dinos Chapman Disasters of War, 1993

Jake and Dinos Chapman's Disasters of War, 1993, is a collection of intricately painted miniature battle scenes under a Perspex case, laid out in the manner of a hobbyist's collection of model soldiers.

Based on Goya's series of eighty-three etchings (Los Desastres de la Guerra, 1810 - 20) the work depicts the Napoleonic invasions in Spain and the horrific realities of battle. The Chapman's Disasters of War are as much about Goya's struggle within himself as they are about the brutal, horrors of war. The brothers view Goya as an artist struggling against the logic of the Enlightenment, yet also indebted to that way of thinking in order to produce his art. Similarly the Chapman's struggle against, yet are supported by, a liberal and educated contemporary art audience.

The Chapman brothers (Jake & Dinos Chapman)
Disasters of War, 1993

Mixed media
displayed: 1300 x 2000 x 2000 mm
sculpture