War pictures and magazine stories about military conflict appear on a wood panel. Their images are slightly blurred, most of the words almost phantom-like, and one onlooker seems fixated but distanced from the whole experience.

These collages and other works from artist John Martinek are on display at the “Recombinations” exhibit in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.

These pieces represent personal experiences from the artist and his connection and disconnection to Middle Eastern conflict, as well as other work, including surrealistic expressions combining infrastructure and the human body.

Between 1996 and 1999, Martinek lived in Turkey while many military missions were being carried out from NATO bases in the country. Although his life was normal, he says he read about the conflicts in magazines like Time and Newsweek.

“I got to see the images from those events, but living there, everything seemed normal and almost peaceful,” Martinek says.

Martinek assembled photographs and articles on a wood panel. Using paint and glue, Martinek obscures the photos and the articles, making the words almost unreadable as well as giving a representation of himself, photographic or painted, looming in the background.

“I wanted to connect myself to those events somehow while also acknowledging that I wasn’t personally involved,” Martinek says.

Martinek’s use of multiple media, especially woodworking, comes from his background. He received a bachelor’s degree in art from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. and a master’s in printmaking from the University of Iowa. He is also a carpenter who works in the Iowa City area.

Also appearing in the gallery are a series of new paintings Martinek is working on, combining realistically painted pipelines and representations of his own body parts. Martinek says he enjoys using such realistic forms in surrealism because it adds to the sense of unreality.

“It’s a space that transports you out of reality using reality to get you there,” Martinek says.

The purpose of these paintings is to show how much we rely on infrastructure to survive as well as some of the consequences of it, Martinek says. In the painting “Aeration,” a complex network of pipes ends with a hand pouring a glass of water into a mouth.

“[This infrastructure] is a life support system that allows us to do things, like allow us to live in a cold climate, or something like that,” Martinek says.

Martinek’s last series of paintings in the gallery are a series of standalone acrylic paintings. The paintings were created across his career, and he says they make individual statements similar to single-frame comics.

Also appearing at the Union will be the “Assembled Paintings,” a series of works exploring surface texture on painted planes. Starting Dec. 11, the works will be on display at the Union’s Gallery Room.