Blog Archives
Blog Archives
Blog Archives
Blog Archives
Over the past two decades, Carl Gopalkrishnan's artwork has garnered international recognition for his ability to forge meaningful connections between art & literature and the complex dynamics driving international law, intervention and global conflict. Carl transforms familiar cultural artefacts into new myths so legal and military minds can explore the creative, subconscious and emotional stories that shape their doctrines of war & peace. (Photograph copyright © Amanda Brown 1992)
Open Letter: Red, White & Blue = Lavender. In 2024 we turn desperately to our young people to paint a better future.
Creation is not only for artists. Students who are discovering their voices to call for a ceasefire in Gaza are, collectively, creating a moment in history. Those opposing it will apply the same silencing, disparaging comments, and threats, as they have to artists who have challenged doctrine for millennia.
New Publishing: My art feature for The University of Michigan Law School’s left student zine Radical Commons! March 2024, USA
I have two articles in Radical Commons! (or Radco! as it is known by the student body) this month. Radco! is a new left student zine started by students at the University of Michigan Law School which was formed to create a safe space for left students in what is recognised as a fairly conservative profession…They also published my 27th February blog post on the death of Aaron Bushnell, may he rest in peace.
New Painting: ‘Gaza, Monsters of the Id. A painting in red, white and blue’ I turn this painting against the wall before I sleep, Jan 2024
Artists paint especially when there are no words left…
New Publishing: The Australian Fabians Review #6 re-publishes my 2010 Gaza paintings, January 2024 AU
Deeply grateful to editors of The Australian Fabian Review # 6, 2024 for featuring my four 2010 paintings & extract from my blog post last year about the provenance of wars in Gaza. Their cover art is very clear: “Stop Killing Children”.
Studio Updates: While glazing my ceramic amulets, I reflect on how our superstitions continue to shape how we define war & peace
Soldiers & civilians both share secret lives of superstition and they often carry material objects for ‘luck’ and protection during life’s challenging moments. Building on my rustic War and Peace 2023 amulets, these 2 new designs are high-fire colour glazed using WA stoneware clay & come with each 2024 giclée limited edition print orders for ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ & ‘Crooked Roads’.
New Publishing: In VALA 4 ‘War+Peace’, William Blake untangles complexity & our 2022 UK Defence Doctrine, Nov 2023, London, UK
My visual essay in VALA, the journal of The Blake Society in London, is called "A Field Manual for A Lost Soldier: William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as a Course in Complexity". Their theme is War & Peace. Marriage can help us unravel the complexity of our times. Military leaders also need reminding that limiting their creativity to technologies to kill blinds them to the shape-shifting qualities of Blake’s God and Satan.