Veterans Art Center Tampa Bay and Marcolina Gallery Presents "Where Have All The Flowers Have Gone" Exhibit
Veterans Art Center Tampa Bay 🌸 is a special exhibit created by and for veterans, hosted by Veterans Art Center Tampa Bay. Each piece reflects real stories of healing, transition, and hope.
TAMPA, FL — February 16, 2026 — For the month of April, the historic Marcolina Gallery in Ybor City will become a space for profound reflection on the cycle of conflict. The Veterans Art Center Tampa Bay (VACTB), in partnership with Marcolina Gallery, is proud to present a month-long exhibition featuring the work of Vietnam Veteran Ray Lawler, headlined by his monumental 13'6" masterpiece, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone.”
Running from April 1st through April 30th, this exhibit showcases the therapeutic and provocative power of veteran art. Each piece in the collection reflects real stories of healing, transition, and the raw hope that survives the aftermath of war.
A Visual Anthem of Protest and Remembrance
The centerpieces of the exhibit, Ray Law’s “Where Have all the Flowers Gone,” is a visual interpretation of the classic anti-war song. Spanning six fully integrated canvas panels, the painting serves as a timeline of human conflict and the propaganda that fuels it. Originally rendered in 2013, Law recently modified the work to include the current invasion of Ukraine, adding a "demented, leering" image of Vladimir Putin alongside notorious tyrants of the past.
“Hate is a prime ingredient for brewing up a war,” says artist Ray Lawler. “The black rose of death is its symbol. Whether it’s the parades and media blitzes of the past or the current devastation in Ukraine, the result is the same: the flowers shrivel and die. I have applied the insignia of the Ukrainian flag to the dead warrior in this painting to honor the courage of those defending their soil today.”
A Search for a Permanent Home
Ray Law has announced hasd to donated this massive 13'6" painting to VACTB willing to place the work on public display as part of their permanent collection. This exhibit at Marcolina Gallery offers curators and the public a rare opportunity to view the piece in its entirety before it finds a final home.
Event Details
What: Veterans Art Center Tampa Bay Solo Exhibit: Ray Law
When: April 1 – April 30, 2026
Where: Marcolina's Gallery, Ybor City
Feature: Unveiling of the 6-panel integrated masterpiece “Where Have all the Flowers Gone.”
RSVP: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/where-have-the-flowers-have-gone
“Ray Law’s work is a staggering reminder of why the Veterans Art Center exists,” says Mack Macksam, CEO of VACTB. “It bridges the gap between the veteran’s internal trauma and the world’s external reality. This isn’t just an art show; it’s a history lesson on canvas.”
www.vactb.org
As a American Vietnam veteran who was familiar with the middle east region, I warned a friend in the intelligence community that we would be caught up in the Iraq war for at least a half decade. "Na! We will be out within a year." I was right. To protest the war, I decided to create a visual interpretation of the old antiwar song "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" (below). It is comprised of 6 fully integrated canvas panels 13'6" long. I will donate this painting to a certified art or history museum that is willing to put it on public display as part of their permanent collection. It has been modified to include reference to the current conflict in Ukraine.
“Where have all the Flowers Gone”
Hate, whether manifested in the form of religious or social bigotry, imperialism, political dogma, or economic ideology, is a prime ingredient for brewing up a war. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and the upstart Putin are its proponents. The black rose of death is its symbol. To propagate a war, however, you need the backing of a nation or a population of like-minded disciples. The generally accepted method of gaining this support is through propaganda that glorifies the legitimacy of “our side” and vilifies and dehumanizes “their side”.
They all do it. Hitler cast himself as the peacemaker while at the same time casting the Jews as sub-human. Lincoln and the North equated Jefferson Davis and the South as vermin to be eradicated. The United States portrayed the “Krauts” and “Yellow Peril” as the epitome of the evil racist and yet imprisoned more than a million citizens with slanted eyes in internment camps and relegated those of darker complexions to second class status.
The beat goes on. There are the parades, the media blitzes, the self-righteous speeches, and the celebratory flowers. Putin delegitimizes the Ukrainians and invades their land. Al Qaida, the Arabs, the Muslims and other non-Christians of various sects are dehumanized ad-nausea as incarnates of the devil, filth to be eliminated. In doing so we also to some extent desensitize and dehumanize ourselves.
Then there is the actuality of war. The chaos, the destruction, and the breakdown of social order. The need to kill or be killed, the dehumanization of all caught up in the struggle. The flowers shrivel and die. The rule of law is replaced by the rule of hate that affects all. The Holocaust begets its progeny in Iraq and Abu Ghraib. The sectarian blood baths grab the headlines daily.
In the aftermath of battle comes the agony and despair. The entreaties and screams of the wounded and dying. The anguish of the survivor who lost his best friend. Somewhere there is a new unknowing widow and fatherless child. The flowers are dead.
The governments that may be will honor their dead with military precision. The haunting sounds of “taps” will echo mournfully among the headstones bedecked in a fresh veneer of flowers. But at the personnel level these trappings strike hollow in the mind of a young widow numbed with grief. A crying child pens a letter to her lost parent and places it on his grave enshrouded by a bright bouquet of red roses.
Putin’s Invasion
Like most people outside of Russia, I was appalled by the news of Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine and the physical and human devastation that it will be causing for the foreseeable future. The images of destruction and terror that we are subjected to by the news outlets replicate much of the imagery that I had incorporated into this anti-war painting that I had first rendered in 2013. Recently, as a reaction to the Ukrainian invasion, I added Putin’s demented, leering mug among the notorious haters of the past. His invasion of Ukraine once again proliferates the idea that the strong can freely subjugate the societies that they hate through the imposition of military aggression and all-out war. To honor the courage and resolve of the Ukrainians to defend their soil from these barbarian hordes from the north, I have applied the insignia of the Ukrainian flag on the shoulder patch of the dead warrior depicted in the painting.