Matt Bahen

Waddington's Auction House Biography and Notes

Matt Bahen is perhaps best known for his haunting canvases of war-torn landscapes, derelict architecture, scavenging dogs and confrontational snipers on human scale canvases. The subject matter for Warrior/Hostage (2002) precedes that of his professional body of work, however it shows a budding interest in machines of destruction and in the devastation of war that permeates much of his work to date. This work, painted on a reclaimed army canvas, is witty with its bright pink F-15E Strike Eagle (a high speed, long-range military fighter plane) and a “soldier” at the ready (an ape with a can of beer and a cigarette). Humourous it may be at first glance, but the message inherent in Warrior/Hostage might be that humans, with all of their evolved intellect, are not advanced enough to avoid the destruction and desolation of war.