Wild Angels-Catalog-small-with-cover

W i l d A n g e l s angels in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – large, muscular, winged human-like figures. Have they joined you on your painting voyage, or are there other sources for your winged figures? In this case, the works led themselves. Initially, I did not know where the process would lead. I planned to refer to those savage parades and was surprised to discover that I was attracted to painting variations of winged figures that resembled angels. This attraction led me to different myths linked with the figures of angels, and opened for me a world that gradually seeped into my works. For example, I thought about angels in the Bible: In the story of Isaac’s binding, an angel appears bearing a message that stops Abraham just at the dramatic moment when he raises the knife to sacrifice his son. The angel in the book of Ezekiel is another example. I also contemplated Walter Benjamin’s contrast-replete short text on “the angel of history.” An angel figure is somewhat ambivalent: It is coarse and rough but also soft and delicate. In terms of gender, it is not clear whether an angel is male or female. Are the angels in your paintings androgynous, as are Michelangelo’s angels, for example? I am very fond of the divine androgynous faces of angels in the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The figures I draw are intrinsically male, but I felt it was important to regard them as representing both male and female. Angels are powerful individualistic creatures, somewhere between humans and animals. This power seems to be waiting to erupt at any moment, uncontrolled and without warning. It recalls the strength of a close-knit group that turns violent and breaks taboos together, as often happens in football matches or large parades. As you havementioned, one central tension these pictures attempt to explore is “limbo,” or the human duality of being a “cultured” human being, vs. an animalistic savage entity that crosses the lines of good order. When cultural-creative work is perceived as a sublimation, the question arises as to where this delicate balance is disrupted. Your comment on group power reminds me of Elias Canetti’s book Crowds and Power, which discusses the different dynamics of a body interacting with other bodies, that together, make a group. The group can produce a sense of power that has different expressions, and depends on the leader. Some of the pictures display a kind of procession; a parade of winged figures originally linked with those pagan festivals where the above- mentioned tension dwells.