Oleksii Kozyr (UKR)

The lockdown began during my stay in Kiev. When the city was paralyzed by a wave of quarantine measures and the spirit of human panic, by the will of fate and by means of my lively curiosity, I was organizing courier delivery to people who turned out to be scattered, frightened and locked in separate cells at home. As their connecting link with the material world, I had the opportunity to observe the whole range of negative emotions associated with the current state of affairs and compare what I saw with published official statistics and my own experience of contact with many people every day.

The panic was enormous. It was not clear to outsiders which of this was causing more harm to people.

A feeling of fear that undermines immunity and depletes the nervous system, which has settled in almost everyone, or a virus? The plot of the painting “Dementia or Honor” was formed in me even before the start of the pandemic in Ukraine and, nearly prophetic, I was saturated with human experience and took its final form on canvas in the winter of 2020, detailed and deepened until the beginning of 2021.

In the early summer of 2020, I returned to my workshop in Kharkov, where the quarantine restrictions were in the nature of formality, and completely devoted my attention to painting. During this period, the works “Samurai” and “Buddha” appeared.

Actually covid appeared in my life just before the new year 2021, in the form of a slight malaise and loss of smells. It is strange to be in a world devoid of one of the senses. It is interesting to observe how the body becomes detached from food, only from the fact that it all tastes the same. As a resource taken away from the sense of smell, it sharpens other sensors of perception.

This is truly an amazing experiment on myself, deepening my experience in comprehending the philosophy of Buddhism.

To this day, I am the lucky one who has not seen the terrible consequences of covid, and with all due respect, I remain an adherent of the opinion that very often the probability of the outcome of events depends on the inner state and attitude towards it. From this I believe that, whenever possible, our entire life and, moreover, art, as the strongest tool for modeling states, is obliged to awaken in us the best, viable mood.

The general, removing the skin from his face, taking his own life as a result of an unchecked promise, is the central figure of the triptych. The waxy lightness of the human body and complete, confident calmness in the gaze, framed by abstract details, the color of frozen blood. The armor of a Japanese warrior, protection, but at the same time a heavy burden.

The symbol of the cargo of the obligations assumed and the assigned rules. The seat of inner strength and the abode of the spirit of war. Located on the right side of the triptych. Pink mountains, innocent serenity, a world of frosty air and hard stone. The zero point is on the left side.

The “horns” located along the upper edge of the triptych are made of clay, the very one from which God created man in pre-biblical myths – an acute aggressive form, emphasize radicalism and poignancy.