“in quiet rooms young girls are writing poetry” by David Rathman

“In quiet rooms young girls are writing poetry” is an artist’s book that reproduces David Rathman’s recent war-themed watercolors. The paintings depict tanks, planes, warships and helicopters. As with Rathman’s cowboy and car pieces, the imagery is paired with hand-written texts and legends.

Using “language in a paradoxical way to confront the imagery,” Rathman avoids a head-on collision with the “heaviness” of his subject. According to the artist, “There’s a lot of indirection and evasion going on; to see these aggressive menacing subjects twisting with uncertainty struck me as humorous and—in a sideways, minor way—profound.”