The selected works showcased in this online presentation, encapsulate a recurring theme and vision that the artist, Bill Brower, tried to shed from his consciousness by transferring them onto illustration boards. This series painted within a period of 10 years, beginning in 1987, is the mature work of an artist's lifelong pursuit of self expression, and his attempts at escaping the haunting imagery of his childhood experience. This body of work is organized in two sections, each comprising of a few dozens of paintings, representing two distinct periods of the second world war. The first one, the offensive series, covers the period between 1933 to 1942, when the axis expansion was in full force. The defensive series, from 1943 to 1945, depicts the annihilition of the Third Reich and occupied Germany in its aftermath.

   Without stating the obvious, the viewer cannot help but notice, within prevailing norms of cultural propriety, the controversial nature of the Nazi imagery, which at first glance seem to dominate this body of work. Should the viewer, be able to overcome the initial pudor at such representation of an ideological anachronism, one would grasp the artist's deeper reflection on human nature; a depiction of its many foibles; its foolish pride, simple vanity, cowering cowardice, euphoric love and inescapable hatred; all filtered through the artist's unique tongue in cheek brand of humor, laced with sexual innuendos, at times with dubious double entendre, other times mawkish with its subject matter, but mostly sardonic in tone. Bill Brower, also illustrates certain, lesser known, tawdry facets of the history of that time period, that fascinated him, such as Hitler's tragic affair with his half-niece, Geli Raubal. He also picks up on lesser known war related events that he had knowledge of, through personal experience, such as this reference to a friendly fire incident by the Luftwaffe, not to mention some high profile historical event such as, Neville Chamberlain's disastrous Munich treaty of 1938.

   While there is a narrative to each of his paintings, in many instances, the intent is not uniquely to convey a message or tell a story, rather it is an étude, an experiment; or in Bill' parlance, a feasibility study; to work out a visual idea, test the coherence of his visual language, or an intriguing visual problem that he wanted solved. Foremost, one is struck by the brilliance of his color palette, the vibrant and fully saturated colors evoke strong emottions. One can also appeciate the artist's brand of visual poetry, such as this example of rhyming textures and contrasting symbols, as seen by the flower basket against the hand grenade, the floral pattern on the women's skirts, and the soldier's camouflaged helmet, juxtaposed with the head scarf and flaming red hair. It is such symmetry and counter balance across many dimensions, that makes Bill's art much more than first meets the eye. In other instances, one can notice Bill's interest with distorted visual perspective, and ambiguous spatial depiction. Since the series span more than a decade, there is a wide range of approaches to the image treatment. The painting style can be very controlled and deliberate, while others are more spontaneous and free flowing, depending on Bill's evolving state of mind over the years.

    Bill Brower had a successful career in commercial illustration and graphic design, he always had impeccable draftsmanship, the facile sleight of hand and the stroke of genius that will always lend a brilliant spark that is the trademark of his commercial work, yet that style is always controlled, tempered and deliberate as required by the constraints of the business. This body of work is a selected representation, of Bill at his finest and wildest, when he lets his hair down so to speak. Bill: unplugged, unchained and unhinged. Enjoy the presentation.