Loose Lips Sink Ships
(click image to enlarge)
Gary Westford

“Loose Lips Sink Ships”

In this painting, the ominous monochromatic face and mouth of an evil oracle appears and looms in the background. The phrase “loose lips sink ships” is written at the bottom edge of the canvas. This phrase originated and was used on American/Allied posters during World War Two to mean “beware of unguarded talk” that could result in destroying the allied war effort against dark forces of evil that would destroy western democracy. In front of this image, a veil or curtain of seven ‘floating” red spheres/orbs provides a critical distance and separation between the viewer and the painting beneath it. These red (symbolic of passion, anger, blood) spheres were orchestrated to represent and symbolize the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth). Our contemporary failure to recognize the truth in the face of lies and deceits places all of us in grave peril…