HAVE BLUE takes the television images of the Gulf War and extrapolates their intentional seductiveness to the point at which they become yet further divorced from their origins in 'real' conflict. The resulting decorativeness and abstract quality is off-set by the use of texts which offer an oblique, sometimes ironic comment on the Gulf War and the cultures which produced it.

Chris Bilton, City of Westminster Arts Council

Have Blue was the codename given to the prototype of the long secret Lockheed F117A Stealth Fighter which reputedly delivered the first bombs to Baghdad. The calligraphy was designed by Baghdad-based artist Hashem al-Khattat in 1963. It represents the Quranic text "and of knowledge you have been given but a little".

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