I appreciated our conversation and your efforts to teach about the evils of the Nazis and Hitler. Following is the statement I will send to the teachers in response to your work. Please let me know if this captures our discussion.
“To Holocaust/Genocide Educators – I recently became aware of some very interesting artwork completed by Rodney Vanworth. The over four hundred pictures all present the concept of Nazi deception in various ways such as words, action, concepts, ideas, etc. Even the title of his work Nazi Clowns is a deception. I suggest you review the material to see of its potential in the classroom. His web site is www.naziclowns.com and Rodney would appreciate any comments. His e-mail is hellorodney@gmail.com.”
I see them. I have looked at most of the images. Working my way through them.
It is an amazing and profound body of work, rich with metaphor that you go into in detail. It's almost as though you don't want the usual artist/viewer relationship to get in the way of the message.
It's like you are removing the task of interpretation from the viewer, saying, "No, don't you try to interpret this. I will tell you what you are seeing."
I love that! Because you are still using your own metaphors, but allowing us into your language in a way that is quite rare. You are not being snobbish or aloof about it all. You are giving everyone access to the metaphor, which makes it a populist move. Too often the power of the metaphor is seen as lying i9n the mystery of what it might mean, but surely a metaphor only works if it is understood?
Rodney, I received your message on youtube today. Sorry I did not get it earlier. I took a look at your site. Wow. I admire your willingness to allow this phenomenon to penetrate so deeply and to return the favor by expressing your inner journey so meaningfully. Yours is an experience that I must take in slowly. I feel almost overwhelmed by the enormity of expressions. I wish I were around 10 years ago when you began so I could take it all in slowly as it was created. Such power should be unleashed in small doses. Even in small doses, most people will be unable to keep up. As it stands now in final form, however, it seems like an almost insurmountable endeavor. I've never understood the difficulty people have relating to my work until I experienced the anxiety I felt looking up at the massive construct you have created. Somehow you and I must find a way to turn down the volume lest the world go deaf.I mean all this as the highest compliment and I hope it is taken in that vein. Keep in touch and thank you for sharing. I hope to spend much time delving into your world. -- Warmest regards,
The genius of Rodney Vanworth’s art work: Nazi Clowns – The Grand Deception is presented with timeless clarity; the work transcends the eruptive issues of World War II and places them in the context of today’s troubled world: there are images of war, ethnic cleansing, twisted futurism, deceptive politics, and burgeoning fascism. Vanworth’s drawings remind us that what was once unthinkable was indeed a harsh reality. Do not shun this work as mere cartoons or being inadequately able to flatter the manipulative dictates of high-society art critics, for Vanworth’s work genuinely captures the most demonstrative deception in the history of mankind. Ten years in the making, the work includes over 400 sketches culminating in six journals and depicts the psychopathic folly of the Nazi death camps. In doing so, he has transformed a complicated truth into stunning metaphoric simplicity. - Ron Tucker