A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Paul X. Rutz has painted through life as a ballet dancer, Pentagon Press Service reporter and aviation officer onboard the aircraft carrier USS Kennedy (CV-67). With a dissertation on combat art from the Iraq war, he received a PhD in visual culture from Purdue University in 2011. That year he took his painting practice to Portland, Oregon, where he explores fresh ways to picture real people and objects, lately carving into panels to create sculptural paintings designed to be seen from various points of view. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Ford Gallery, the Oregon Military Museum and various college galleries, as well as group shows at Mark Woolley Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution. Rutz regularly writes on visual culture and history. Recent publications can be found in the Huffington Post, Military.com, Cincinnati Review, Military History magazine and elsewhere.