Soldiers (Remastered)

A lone sentinel crouches at the water’s edge, rifle in hand, Radio Antenna in line piercing a skeletal fish beneath a radiant mandala sun. The figure is both guardian and victim—vigilant in a poisoned landscape, fishing for survival in mercury-laced waters. The plural title speaks volumes: one soldier stands for many, the collective watch over a dying lake and a threatened people. Original work by Albert Zeno (Albany Zeno Sr., 1926–1999), remastered and preserved in 2025 by his son, Albany Zeno Jr., using AI-assisted techniques that honor the artist's intent, symbolism, and urgent environmental critique. Part of the Zeno Reborn: Genesis collection — the first public digital resurrection of a lost Chicago surrealist whose paintings confronted nuclear anxiety, environmental collapse, and the parallel exploitation of people and nature, as embodied in the enduring 1972 Hyde Park "Alewives and Mercury Fish" mural. This piece stands as a direct human embodiment of that mural’s warning: life persists, armed and watchful, even in toxicity.