"Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once".

 

Julius Caesar – William Shakespeare

 

 

McKay's series of paintings are a thought-provoking depiction of a 'firing squad' line of toy soldiers set against a backdrop of young boys' wallpaper. The inspiration for the set of five still lives came when McKay was in his shed painting objects belonging to his deceased father. In digging around for further objects to commit to canvas he stumbled across the toy soldiers his own son played with when he was a boy.

When he began painting them in 2009 news reports on the radio were reporting an unprecedented number of fatalities amongst the British soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It seemed to be constant,” notes McKay of the deaths, “the reports would end with 'and the family have been informed,'' which I think is quite abrupt.” The predominant age of the soldiers was 22, co-incidentally the same age as one of McKay's sons at the time. “Obviously, they're overseas because this is their chosen profession - to bravely protect and serve their country - but to me it's like putting young people in front of a firing squad.”

 

Painted in striking oils, the lines of plastic figures are shown from five different perspectives as McKay stood twelve, ten, eight, six and five paces from his subject matter. The result is that the series of five images increase in intensity as the soldiers appear to move closer and closer. Behind them the wallpapers, made by McKay especially to place behind the plastic soldiers in his still life set ups, depict designs such as Thundercats, Danger Mouse, Euro '96 and characters from Toy Story. McKay decided on the designs by asking his son and his son's friends which wallpapers they had on their bedroom walls when they were children. The papers' childhood designs serve to emphasise the youth of the dying soldiers and evocatively remind us that they too are, someone's son or daughter.