So right at the beginning I would like to thank all those to eventually read it till the end for their patience. And then, of course, to all those who will be aware of the fact that there is more on this T-shirt than just another picture.
Although the motif was in the process of creation for a very long time, the idea itself and the whole concept had been born very quickly and clearly in the beginning of autumn last year. We have been trying to add a concept to the motifs for the OEF for some time. Sometimes more, sometimes less successfully. And when I was thinking about what could be the motif for 2019, the theme for the drawing was quite obvious, namely a war and a war motif. Not only is it a generally grateful motif in hard music, but in 2019, there is a sad eightieth anniversary since the beginning of the bloodiest war conflict of human history, namely the Second World War. A war that has brought new and effective methods of killing and a modern concept of war that is still valid today.
And it is symbolic, though it was not planned and I realized it subsequently after the motif was completed, that the draft of the motif and the first sketch was created on September 29th, namely on the anniversary of the signing of the Munich Agreement. The motif was then completed, with the exception of a few final adjustments, during the night from 14th to 15th March on the anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. Both of these sad historical events heralded the beginning of the Second World War and the unleashing of the most insane war of all time.
New technologies had already been introduced in the First World War, but the Second one had topped it in all respects regarding both the ruthlessness of the way of waging war and the contempt for basic human values, but especially regarding the huge human losses especially within the civilian population. 47 million civilian casualties is a number surpassing the boundaries of common sense. This is the fact that should never be forgotten. And this is the aspect of a war that we want is reminded by this OEF T-shirt and we also want to pay tribute to those innocent victims. Although the cruelty and the human suffering have added new terms and words to the dictionaries, such as the Holocaust, it sometimes seems as if humanity had not learned enough from such destruction and continues to head towards another possible global war which would mean just one thing to all civilians. Suffering and pain. And this is what we are at least a bit trying to capture in the new motif for this year's OEF.
The figure depicts the main character of a civilian kneeling on the remains of civilians already killed, internally torn by pain and on the brink of madness. The figure behind it depicts political manipulation, power interests and propaganda which this madness always arises from and is the primary cause of all wars. The figures of the soldiers show that in every war there is a need for those who want to wage war. The flying planes depict modern war technologies and the nuclear explosion does their efficiency. The Grim Reapersstatue on the left is an allegory that there is no justice in war. Above all, the innocent ones die. The Grim Reaper on the right shows that the end and destruction is inevitable. Time is just a variable in the formula with a fixed result.
As for the graphical aspect, even though I'm a fan of a lower form of pictorial arts such as comics and metal album covers than the work of Picasso, I have to admit the influence of the painting "Scream" by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. I just have branded the picture into my mind. Anyway, I was largely influenced by the covers of metal albums that formed my musical taste in my youth. The more observant ones have certainly found Kreator "Terrible Certainty", Sodom "Persecution Mania" or Megadeth "Peace Sells But Who's Buying". And of course Napalm Death "From Enslavement To Obliteration".
Martin Ch.
