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Vietnam Veterans Art Group Presents "Reflexes & Reflections"

By VVAW

October 6, 1981, marked a first in the Chicago art scene: the opening of a Vietnam Veterans art exhibition at the N.A.M.E. Gallery at 9 W. Hubbard St in Chicago. Presented by the Vietnam Veterans Arts Group of Chicago, the show is titled "Vietnam Reflexes and Reflections": it's the first totally Vietnam vet artist exhibition in the Midwest and has collected art by Vietnam vets from around the U.S.

If crowds are any measure of success on opening night, this art show can be termed an immense success. Approaching the gallery it was necessary to wade through a large crowd, standing, drinking and discussing the show. Inside, the people were wall-to-wall making the job of viewing the art an almost impossible task.

The crowd was easily as unusual as the event itself. Art critics and artists from the area rubbed shoulders with many young men in jungle fatigues peering seriously at the works, the captions, descriptions, and others in the crowd. No less unusual were the number of media personalities; TV crews, local celebrities and leadership of many local and national veterans organizations. Local art types where surprised by the sheer numbers attending. One Chicago filmmaker remarked that it was virtually unheard of to see such media coverage much less all the local stations filming and broadcasting live from the gallery.

Some insight into the interesting show was provided by an on-site interview with Rich Atzlan, the producer of the show and leader of the Chicago-based Vietnam Veterans Art Group.

Veteran: How many people do you estimate have seen this exhibition today, Rich?

Atzlan: We anticipate over a thousand today.

Veteran: That's a tremendous turnout. We understand you have a wide variety of artistic work here.

Atzlan: Right. We have art related to oil paintings, sculpture—some of it would be described as "descriptive" while other items are more abstract. We also have photos and slides which are one of the principal things we wanted to show. We felt that the war has been covered for too long by professionals and that's like learning to make love from a prostitute—they get paid to do it. We are looking at it from a participant's perspective and we want to show that.

Veteran: We notice that you have a large amount of war memorabilia, particularly PRG and NLF on display.

Atzlan: Right. Most of those were collected by GIs and were captured items.

Veteran: How many pieces do you have here on exhibit?

Atzlan: We have approximately 125 paintings and sculptures, 400 slides and 75 photos.

Veteran: As opposed to the standard fare for art gallery openings where they serve wine and cheese, I see you are serving something of a different nature.

Atzlan: Yes, we're serving C-rations and warm beer.

Veteran: Is that individual servings or squad size chow hall portions?

Atzlan: We have individual servings and a wide selection of fruit cakes.

Veteran: And the ham and eggs you can still bounce off the wall?

Atzlan: Right!

Veteran: I supposed you are well stocked with the very popular ham and lima beans?

Atzlan: Well, we have enough. They're not one of our more popular items.

This is a fine art exhibition. The quality of prints, painting and sculpture is outstanding. Differing from previous vet art shows around the country, this show is very upfront about the quality of life—and death. There are no punches pulled. Often, the Vietnamese people, both civilian and fighters, are shown sympathetically, from their own point of view. The artists show many different styles and approaches to their work. The slide show with music and taped firefights and attacks provides a good counterpoint to the more traditional forms of art.