Exhibited: Osage Gallery, Possession, Hong Kong, June 1 - July 15, 2007

ABOUT THE WORK

Charlie Co’s Lords of War is a dark image of destruction and distress amid the unforgiving wrath brought by war and violence, not just any kind of violence, but imperialist violence. Co expounds on this work: “A man in an armored suit stands on a landscape of devastation. His left foot steps on a skull as if he has triumphantly won a war, killing his enemies. The crow, an iconic symbol that has been a recurring image [in my paintings] since the 1990s, symbolizes death or harbingers of death. He holds a burning sword meaning there is always a constant threat. Falling human figures are power seekers falling from their ambitions and greed.” Wars and the strengthening of the military are part and parcel of imperialist nations’ survival. The two world wars resulted from these nations’ struggle and scramble to assert dominion over the world. In particular, the United States, the most powerful imperialist, wage wars, invade countries, and intervene in civil conflicts not just to take control of the local economy but to maintain high profits for its military-industrial complex. In 2022, the US military-industrial complex amassed a profit from arms exports of $205.6 billion, a combined value from private corporations tied to the lucrative industry and sales arranged by the US government. They further achieved this as they took advantage of the RussiaUkraine War, an inter-imperialist war between the US-led NATO forces and Russia. In 2021, according to data provided by the veritable think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SPRI), the US accounted for 51% of the total arms sales, a sheer 33% from the runner-up, China. In the Philippines, the US has installed pro-American regimes since the post-war era to ensure the protection of its vested interests in our economy. It is up to the Filipino people to arouse, organize, and mobilize the greater number of the oppressed and relentlessly confront the hegemony of imperialism and its local agents. The same goes for peoples of numerous oppressed nations. (Adrian Maranan)