RON MANN
LIFE & WORK

September 10, 2024 - May 9, 2025

IN MEMORIAM: VETERAN ARTIST RON MANN
(September 12, 1943 - October 1, 2023)

The National Veterans Art Museum exists because of the people who were exposed to the impact of war and military service and found art to be a progressive conduit for communicating their experiences. When it comes to treating the invisible wounds of war, if it’s mentionable, it’s manageable. But what happens when a sailor, soldier, airman, guardian or marine is asked to do the unmentionable? The visual art of Ron Mann begins to answer that question. Mann’s work transcends what could not be captured in full sentences and instead, uses intentionally broad strokes and poetically bold titles. His paintings begin to reframe a life after war and the persistent call to create on a canvas. He was in constant communication with the current events of the world from reproductive rights to global warming as well as the inner workings of everyday losses, love’s heartaches and joys of family life.

As a former helicopter door gunner, Mann found that the best weapon against trauma was to make art. Inner visions and inspiration manifest as a mirror into the subconscious thoughts of the artist's experience. Not only is this a catalog of the experience of a combat soldier, it is an act of bravery to expose what lies deep within.

Ron Mann was a trouble-maker as a teenager. Charged with trying to incite a riot in the mid-1960’s, he went to court and the judge told him he could either go to jail or volunteer for the draft. He served as a helicopter door gunner and infantry grunt in Vietnam from 1966- 67. When he came home to Flint Michigan, he took a job at General Motors, but he had trouble taking orders from superiors. “ I didn’t trust anyone or anything,” he said. “After seeing people die, you get the feeling like: ‘You can’t tell me anything.’” 

Mann began painting on small canvases in 1992, using the leftover paints of his wife who was an amateur painter. He saw that painting brought her comfort in challenging times and wondered if painting would also provide some relief from him. “I had to get all this cloudy shit out of my mind… I just keep painting and painting and painting… It was almost like an addiction. It was either paint or commit suicide.” During his lifetime, Mann refused to sell his paintings. “Selling my work would be like selling my body.”

The National Veterans Art Museum is grateful to Ron Mann’s family to be able to become stewards in preserving Ron Mann’s story and the permanent home for 272 of Ron Mann’s paintings. We look forward to sharing Ron Mann: Life & Work with you.

Exhibition Sponsored by the Rabb Family Foundation