“Of beautiful arms” Text

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"Of beautiful arms”

These paintings are centered on the body

of a young man –

A soldier who is captured in different situations

that express the difficulty in adjusting

to the military life.

The scenes in the paintings are partially

drawn from Greek mythology,

And from the life of Jesus Christ.

For instance, in the painting “Sisyphus”

The young man is bending in an attempt to

“sustain” the weight of the Laurel wreath on his back,

while in “Ecce Homo”, the soldier’s image

appears in homage to Jesus Christ.

The Laurel wreath symbolizes the aspiration to the eminence

that is attached to military rankings.

The khaki color appears in my work as both a symbolic element,

As well as a leading tone.

It is wrapping the characters with a militaristic ambiance

that is surrounding them from all directions.

The first work in this series is the painting "Boy with An empty glass".

A young man standing in a pose influenced by ancient Roman sculpture.

At first the young man just stood with a glass cup I put in his hand - in the classic painting

A crystal ball in the hand of a young boy symbolized the world in his hand.

But at some point in the work I also added a rifle to it.

The model I drew was released from the army not long before that time due to deep depression.

A year after his release he came out of depression and also came out of the closet.

Since then I have realized that it is impossible to separate the object from the story it brings up.

The model's story connected to the personal story of my son, who suffered post-trauma

During his military service, and both stories came to live in the series of painting that deals

With the connection between the militaristic and religious place in our lives .

In the painting "Ecce Homo" I painted my son at the height of his difficult period.

Through compositions inspired by classical paintings that dealt with themes from Greek mythology

And Christianity, especially from the Ecce Homo paintings, which depict the moment when

Jesus was betrayed, before his crucifixion.

The painting raises questions about the religious role that the Army plays for us as a society,

And about the way we worship the figure of the soldier, as a kind of Jesus that guards us.

That soldier, if perceived as weak, will be "crucified" by the unforgiving environment,

Which wants to see him perfect.

And if the soldier is like Jesus, then the soldier's mother is – Maria.

For me, the image of Maria was not suitable enough to describe my experience

Of what happened to my son when he served in the army.

The point that interested me most was the blindness of me facing the reality that enabled me

To allow the occurrence without asking questions.

During the research I did around the series I discovered a Christian story

About a woman named Santa Lucia (light in Italian), who was persecuted for her piety

And her eyes were removed. In the painting Santa Ora-lucia I deal with piety leading to blindness.

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