Camo I

by Robert W. Sites

“My recent work combines razzle dazzle camouflage with figure and portrait painting, I am exploring male identity, particularly queer male identity. Dazzle camouflage was used during WWI and later in WWII to paint Allied warships and planes to confuse German gunners. The disruptive technique, influenced by cubist patterning, was not intended to conceal but instead to make it difficult for gunners to estimate the target’s range, speed, and heading. This colorful experiment lasted only a short time before being abandoned with the development of sonar. Yet in its own unique way, dazzle camouflage functioned like queer signifiers in society: creating confusion, disrupting accepted norms, being illusive yet hiding in plain sight.”