Connections 2 (2005)

About the Artist:
Art has been a lifelong exploration for artist Paul Bouchard. The combination of the Vietnam War and an industrial accident led him from sculpture to a career as a painter.

When Bouchard returned from Vietnam, he thought he had come back home relatively unscathed. He returned to college where he resumed his studies in sculpture. Bouchard found compatible employment as an apprentice welder in a shipyard.

In 1973, Bouchard suffered an industrial accident which incapacitated him for years. Eventually through rehabilitation he found employment as an illustrator at an Army Test facility in the Mojave Desert.

In 1979 while working at the test facility and ten years after his return from Vietnam, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In the Combat Zone, he developed Sleep Apnea which wouldn’t be diagnosed for twenty-five years. This prevents him from reaching REM sleep where dreams process emotions.

Artist's Statement:
The day of the Soviet invasion I felt compelled to do cross hatching with water color. These paintings evolved into images that resembled paintings of fabric. The fabric paintings further evolved into symbolic flags.

Over the decades, in this on-going process, I have created hundreds of artworks evolving from the flag image – in watercolour, acrylic on board and on hand-cast paper.

After viewing images on television of “Desert Storm” the flag images in my art evolved into symbols I ascribed to the groups who have fought in the Middle East. These images carry with them the horrors of war and also the hope of peace. With the continued fighting in Afghanistan the images ring true.

Public Collections:
United States of America, Department of State, Art in Embassies Program, DC
United States of America, Department of Interior, Grant-Kohrs Ranch, NHS
Combined Forces Veterans Museum of Art, Milperra, NSW, Australia
National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, Chicago, IL
Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA
Veterans Home of California, Barstow, CA
Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR
Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, OR
Berkley Library, Art and Music Department, Berkley, CA
South Bay Museum of Contemporary Art, Torrance, CA
University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD
Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest, CA
Sanctuario de Chimayo, Chimayo, NM
Municipal Art Collection, Beverly Hills, CA
Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
El Camino College, Torrance, CA
Angeles Gate Cultural Centre, San Pedro, CA
Grants Pass Museum of Art, Grants Pass, OR
USAA William Beaumont Medical Centre, El Paso, TX

Exhibitions (Solo):