The Go-Ahead

For many years Leon Golub remained on the periphery of mainstream American art. It was not until people started to realise that the utopian ideals championed by the early modernists were mere follies, that a new generation of figurative painters including Golub emerged. In the Fifties, he was part of a group of Chicago artists whose highly expressive figurative paintings earned them the name 'Monster Masters'. During the sixties Golub stated "We are beset by, and conditioned through, mass media whose oversimplified stereotypes remain oblivious to problems". It was during the Vietnam War that he started to produce harsh and difficult images: his depictions of a soldier interrogating and beating victims or mercenaries with guns were grommets, powerful and instantly arresting. 'The Go-Ahead' is a classic example of his developed work. The imagery remains difficult, heightened by the harsh technique of scraping the paint back to the raw, dry canvas. The scene depicts five uniformed men. One carries a holstered gun, another points, seemingly, at the armed man, perhaps ordering him to carry out some execution. As power continues to be abused around the world, as suffering for the masses increases, Golub's work takes on an even greater relevance.