HAPPINESS IS A WARM DRONE

The Surreal World of Jeff Lassahn

Coloring books, trainsets, and geopolitics with Chicago artist and educator

Coloring books, trainsets, and geopolitics with Chicago educator and artist
Brody Ford

It was 11:30 as I wandered around the halls of
Harold Washington library. It was about the
time I was scheduled to meet with Jeff, but he
was nowhere to be found, and I couldn’t get into
contact with him. Eventually, I came upon the
locked door of the YOUmedia room, an artistic
afterschool space for Chicago youth. Peeking
inside, I spotted Jeff hunkered over a Mac with
video editing software opened; I figured I would
find him here.
His head quickly flipped back when I knocked
at the window; I’m sure he was surprised to see
someone trying to get into an afterschool pro-
gram at 11:30am on a Wednesday. After a quick
introduction, his eyes lit up as he remembered
why I was there that day, and he welcomed me
in.
Once I was inside, all I could look at was the
colorful myriad of projects lying around the
room in various stages of completion. Struc-
tures, writings, even clothing being made, it
seemed a lot of cool stuff was happening. Jeff, a
successful solo artist, additionally serves as a full
time mentor at YOUMedia. An alumni of the
program and mentee of Jeff once told me that
you can see his fingerprints on much of work
that comes from the students there.
Despite all of the interesting things strewn
around, there was no question what piece was
commanding my attention. Squarely in the
center of the room was a massive, colorful
structure which at first glance seemed like a
normal train set. It had all of the character-
istics of one that you might expect: beauti-
ful houses, green hills, and of course, train
tracks. Though, upon closer inspection,
Get your crayons!
Share your coloring at
#colormedronewar
a few more sinister elements. Instead of the idyllic
scene generally represented in a trainset, the
landscape was marked by crumbling
infrastructure and scenes of social unrest.
This 4x8 foot structure is known as the Model
War Economy: Jeff ’s latest work. Train sets have
a way of simplifying a town, representing their
form and functions; they often show homes,
stores, transportation, and happy people.
Though, rather than an idealized town, this
piece uses that simplification to illustrate the
effects of the military industrial complex on the
United States. The train encircling the model
passes by things like burned-out liquor stores,
militarized police, even a mansion up the hill
from an unemployment line; a scene of the
grim reaper mediating an arms deal is included
in the equally playful and morbid landscape.
For many of us, trainsets bring to mind
associations of childhood and innocence. A
surreal sense of conflict presents itself when this
structure of innocence is covered in dark
symbolism to convey heavy subject matter.
The Model War Economy is perfectly
emblematic of what Jeff ’s work is all
about.
It is visually striking, socially conscious, and
possesses a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek
humor. The topics of war and inequality are
nearly inseparable from his work. So, going into
our interview, I had to know what fueled his
compulsion to explore the effect international
conflict has on contemporary life. I gawked at
his structure a little while longer before we sat
down to begin the official interview.
“For me, there’s a long running association
between me doing art, and having some kind of
political involvement.”
Native to Wilmington, Delaware, Jeff Lassahn
began creating art at a young age, though, he
didn’t take it seriously until a high school teach-
er encouraged him to produce more
exploratory work. At the same time Jeff was
becoming more aware of the art world in Iraq-
war era America, he was also becoming aware
of global issues and systems of power. He told
me that his first art piece with an intended
impact was a drawing that critiqued the war.
“I’m thinking the Iraq war started in maybe my
sophomore or junior year of High School, and
that was a distinct memory in terms of art. . .
I just started to pursue those themes more and
more, and chose to go to college for fine arts.”
In college, Jeff continued involving himself
more with both politics and art. Though, he
often found himself at odds with established
political organizations and even with the art
establishment. He felt as though much of the
anti-war movement and art accompanying it
just weren’t doing enough, and specifically had
issue with common support of the Democratic
party.

“I, even then, saw the Democratic Party as

accomplices in the war, but I was at events and
beginning to get politically involved in other
ways.”

Jeff ’s experiences throughout college solidified

his desire to make work that was not just ac-
cessible, but genuinely thought provoking. At a
time when Jeff was coming into his own as an
artist, he attended the 2006 Whitney Biennial
where conceptual art that critiqued the war was
very common. Yet, he found himself dis-
appointed in the execution of a lot of the pieces
there, and it helped him realize what kind of art
he didn’t want to do.

“I can remember a lot of work in there that was

very much: George W. Bush as stupid, evil, or
childish, and that’s like a level of simplicity that
I would not want to do. It’s funny, because you
can see the same thing happening now, of
course with another buffoon. What made us
arrive at this point is what I would like to
explore, those kinds of deeper questions. In my
work recently, particularly, I can see like a
strategy where there’s kind of like a sort of
something glossy and appealing that pulls
people in, and then there’s content that can go
into greater depth, usually through satire, or at
least partly. ”
Through talking about his bait-and-switch with
depth strategy, we ended up back on the topic of
the Model War Economy piece. Jeff said that it
started as a submission to a New York
exhibition contest which allowed him to think
“unrealistically big”. Yet, by the time he submit-
ted, he was sold on the idea regardless of what
happened with the contest, and just began to
construct it himself. It eventually was rejected
by the New York organization, but by the time
he heard the news, he had already found a dif-
ferent exhibit location in Chicago Heights.
While the structure may seem like a finished
work, it is in actuality only half of an eventual
pair of models. The currently completed half is
titled, “First World” and focuses on the domes-
tic economic effects of warfare, with an equally
ambitious analogue coming soon. The new
model will be satirically titled “Failed State” and
will illustrate the consequences for those on the
receiving end of American aggression.
Presented together, the models will have a
mechanized string of bombers travelling be-
tween them, and will contextualize the global
damage of warfare.
“[Failed State]... that’s the term given to a place
like Libya where the US overthrew the govern-
ment and bombed it into oblivion, and then mi-
raculously somehow it ‘failed’. … I would like to
make sure it represents the unique culture and
exists in many countries show it as smoldering
ruin, I want to show that it’s been destroyed.”
The Model War Economy is a constantly updat-
ing work that has been shown in cities across
the country. “I keep adding stuff to it, I can’t
help myself,” Jeff says. The piece was most “Drones have opened up a new frontier where whatever the unknown target is and of course
recently shown at the Chicago Cultural Center wars can be even more secret. US drone opera- they never know anything. It could be their
as part of their exhibit: Chicago: People, Places. tions, they’ve been occurring in countries where house, something nearby, anything. That kind of
Possibilities. there’s been no war declared. The US media insane dominance of airspace and of daily life.
certainly only talks about American casualties,
Another exciting piece of Jeff ’s work that uses so when you create a mechanism that only cre-
this same model of deceptive complexity is his ates ‘other casualties’, that makes it even more
‘Color Me Drone Warfare!’ coloring book. It’s convenient, because really this stuff goes unan-
primary focus is the normalization of milita- nounced ... That’s an enormous kind of benefit
rism in American foreign policy and culture. As for those who are pursuing war policies.”
you might expect, the book is a heavily satirical
depiction of an America indifferent at best to Jeff is particularly interested in the psychological
overseas death. Whether drone operators effects of civilians living under drone policies, as Like, there’s a notorious testimony of a young
portrayed as hyped-up gamers or corporate drones are generally used in places that are geo- girl who actually travelled to do testimony
executives high-fiving in front of warplanes, politically weak and can do little to nothing to in congress, and like I think 8 representatives
"America's Favorite Coloring Book About defend themselves from US aggression. At this were there for the testimony or some abysmal
Drone Warefare", illustrates utter disconnect time, the United States is bombing seven amount, and she mentioned that to her and her
from the horrors of war. countries, and has militarily intervened in 13 friends, sunny days were the scary days. They
since 2000, none of which were didn’t want to go outside. They played on the
“There has been war for about 15 years. officially declared wars. cloudy days because on cloudy days the drones
It started out in a pretty major way with This results in the can’t see, and they felt safe. That was mind
like, ground invasion and a people of places like blowing, as an inversion
mass bombing campaign and Yemen, Somalia, or of what childhood is supposed to be like. ”
things like that, but even then Pakistan having to cope
there’s always been more with the looming possi- ‘Color Me Drone Warfare!’, while
and more a deliberate effort bility of death. illustrated by Jeff, is a
to disconnect the war that collaborative work with Bob Paris, a former
America wages abroad from “On the ground people in professor of Jeff ’s. It is a part of The Cluster
popular moods, opinions, and un- a village might hear a drone Project, which is an online
derstanding.” for weeks, and there’s just a gallery of political artwork
tension. You never know when geared towards a wide
As part of it’s it’s going to audience. Collectively,
hyperbolization of the strike the project focuses on war,
American people’s and particularly public
sheer indifference consciousness of conflict.
towards foreign
conflict,
the coloring
book brings to
the forefront a
common motif
of Jeff ’s work: the
drone. This icon of
warfare in the 21st
century is to Jeff
symbolic of the trend
towards governmental
masking of war.
This desire to make his work accessible to a
wide audience is something Jeff expressed
multiple times during our interview. Publishing
The Cluster Project online to boost
accessibility further illustrates his commitment
to sending a broad message.
“No matter how many millions you make as an
artist in fine art, it’s kind of funny how you will
still only been seen by a very small amount of
people in the places where you make mil-lions,
in many cases. hat’s never been the most
appealing direction for socially critical work in
the sense that it doesn’t even reach that many
people. hat’s a primary goal for this work, so
we work towards unusual platforms. We have
web-sites, we have apps for cell phones, other
unusual formats that appear in weird places.”
Jeff ’s penchant for accessibility and wide
appeal can be seen through his role as a mentor
at YOUmedia. Working with kids from all over
the city who posses a huge diversity of back-
grounds and perspectives is something he says
often informs his own work. He presents his
relationship with students as less of a traditional
mentor-learner dynamic, and rather something
mutually beneficial.
“I think it might help keep my own work
grounded and not too far removed. There’s defi-
nitely a tendency, especially in art school, and
even in art museums, to make artwork that,
for example, only references art, or it could be
extremely sort of in-depth into theory or history
of art, versus history of us. Sometimes I get to
even take teenagers to things like art museums
to see that work, and see how they react and see
myself how I explain it to them. That’s kind of
an intersting was myself to consider like, what
am I doing, how are they going to understand or
hear it.”
While Jeff ’s work is inherently political and
clearly critical, It’s important to him to empha-
size that he maintains hope that change can be
achieved. He hopes to convey a sense of societal
resistance in his work as much as dissatisfaction.
It’s the reason there are scenes of protest in
the Model War Economy, and is something he
plans to expand on in the upcoming failed-state
model. To me, the fact that the kind of work
he’s making even exists is a great example of the
resistance he illustrates.
“I mean, I’m not fatalist, that’s actually a cru-
cial thing in that piece that I want to make sure
is that sense of resistance because I wouldn’t say
that what’s happening in the world is just going
over on people. I think there’s actually an enor-
mous amount of opposition to it.”
Connect with Jeff and follow his work
on instagram: @jefflassahn, at
jefflassahn.com, or flex your
patriotism at
theclusterproject.com