IPHIGENIA

21 pen drawings 

2014

My works are often fashioned as a result of public donations, therefore in Iphigenia the opposite transpired. I deliberately disposed 21 pen drawings of women in a public buss in Staten Island, 9 of the drawings where made while waiting for the buss and 12 pieces were drawn during my journey to the St Gorge ferry terminal.

As a sacrificial act, the piece make reference to “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia” a 1671 painting by the famous Dutch painter Jan Steen. In this piece the artist employed a realistic renaissance technique to make the people appear as though they are living.

Jan Steen is reenacting a scene of capture and sacrifice during the battle of Troy.  Iphigenia who is in the middle of the painting dressed in white is being sacrificed by her father Agamemnon the famous military leader, son of king Atreus and queen Aerope of Mycenae, so the Greeks could sail off and fight Troy.  Iphigenia embraces her fate, and fathom that the only thing she could control is her heroic response to it. Sometimes in life a sole sacrifice makes a gargantuan change for the whole community and benefit to generations, the piece also symbolizes the bravery and heroism of a women doing the best for her nation.

The Nazis in World War II in Europe stole the Sacrifice of Iphigenia including valuable artifacts.

After the fall of the Nazis, the painting was then returned to its original owner. It is now based at the Boston Museum of fine arts, USA.