Description
MASTER OF THE WORLD
August 2002, Brașov, Romania
Master of the World. August two thousand two. Brașov. Romania. One year before Paris. Thirty-seven years old. Last Romanian painting. Testament. Five meters wide. Two hundred by five hundred centimeters. Monumental format. Immoderate ambition. Apocalyptic fresco. Vision of the world. Vision of hell. Vision of the Master. The Devil. Him. Not God. Not man. The Devil reigns. The facts prove it. Look. Stalingrad. Look at the ruins. Look at the dead. Look at the overturned Panzer. Look at the black crow. Look at the Master standing. On the right. Naked. Red hair. Hand raised. He accuses. He points. He says. YOU. You the guilty. Not me. You.
The scene. The battle. Stalingrad. August nineteen forty-two to February nineteen forty-three. Six months of hell. Bloodiest battle in human history. Two million dead. Perhaps more. Soldiers. Civilians. Germans. Soviets. Romanians. Italians. All mixed. All dead. City destroyed. Ninety-nine percent of buildings razed. Lunar landscape. Ruins. Rubble. Frozen corpses. Winter minus thirty degrees. Famine. Cannibalism. Rats. Typhus. House-to-house fighting. Hand-to-hand. Snipers. Grenades. Bayonets. Absolute hatred. Fury. Vanity. And for what. For a name. Stalin. For a symbol. For pride. For nothing. Turning point of the war. Wehrmacht defeated for the first time. Myth of invincibility broken. Sixth Army of Paulus annihilated. Three hundred thirty thousand men. Ninety-one thousand prisoners. Six thousand will survive the camps. The others. Dead. Frozen. Starved. Killed. All. Stalingrad. Archetype of absolute war. Carnage. Ruins. Vanity. Earthly hell. My choice in two thousand two. Why. Because perfect symbol. Because living memory. Sixty years later. Survivors still alive. Films. Books. Vassili Grossman. Life and Fate. Antony Beevor. Stalingrad. Nineteen ninety-eight. And Romanian memory. Romania during World War II. Ally of Germany. Antonescu. Romanian army at Stalingrad. Sixty thousand dead. Useless sacrifice. Painful national memory. My country. My grandfathers. Their generation. Sacrificed. For nothing.
The tank. On the left. The Panzer. German tank. Wehrmacht. Armored. Powerful. Symbol of Blitzkrieg. Lightning war. Speed. Firepower. Revolutionary tactics. Panzer one two three four. Light medium. Panther. Tiger. Heavy. Terrifying. Nineteen forty-two to forty-five. But at Stalingrad. Vulnerable. Narrow streets. Ambushes. Molotov cocktails. Close-range anti-tank guns. The Panzer destroyed. Overturned. Defeated. Like the Wehrmacht. Like Hitler. Like Nazi hubris. And on the Panzer. A crow. Black. Bird of ill omen. Bird of ruins. Bird of corpses. It pecks. It waits. It reigns over the dead. Symbol. Death triumphs. Always. Everywhere. In all wars. And crucial detail. Essential. No swastika on the Panzer. Erased. Absent. Deliberately. Why. To universalize. To contemporize. Because it’s not just the Nazis. It’s all armies. All tanks. All wars. World War II yes. But also Vietnam. Iraq. Afghanistan. Syria. Future Ukraine. Two thousand twenty-two. Twenty years after my painting. Prophecy. All wars. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Humanity doesn’t change. Technologies evolve. But horrors remain identical. With the swastika. Spectators think. “The Nazis. Absolute evil. Exception. We not like them.” Comfortable. Distant. Reassuring. Without the swastika. Spectators realize. “Us too. All armies. All capable. Universality of evil.” Uncomfortable. Close. Mirror. Broadened accusation. Not just Nazi Germany. Easy. But entire humanity. Difficult. August two thousand two. One year before invasion of Iraq. March two thousand three. Lies. Chaos. Deaths. Failures. My Panzer without cross. Contemporary. Current. Universal. Prophetic.
The Master. On the right. Standing. Naked. The character. It’s him. The Master. The Devil. My vision of the Devil. Not horns. Not tail. Not pitchfork. Not clichés. But worse. Deeper. More terrible. Hermaphrodite. Half woman. Half man. On the vertical axis. Red hair. Femininity. Breasts. Androgynous body. But not harmony. Confusion. Monstrosity. And the double sex. Crucial. Essential. The male sex. Auto-copulative. It is inside the female sex. The left part of the character. Self-fertilization. Absolute sexual narcissism. Monstrous self-sufficiency. The Devil needs no one. He satisfies himself alone. Erotic solipsism. Ontological pride. Refusal of otherness. Original sin of Lucifer. “I will ascend to heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” Isaiah fourteen thirteen fourteen. Pride. Pretension. Being God. Autonomous. Creator. Self-sufficient. But result. Sterility. Perversion. Death. Copulation with oneself. No reproduction possible. Vicious circle. Entropy. Nothingness. True love. It is self-giving. Opening to the other. Encounter. Fecundity. The Devil. Incapable. Closed. Folded in. Narcissus. He loves his reflection. He dies contemplating it. Sterility. Pathology. Perversion of eros. Sexuality. Normally. Encounter with the other. But the Devil. Encounter with himself. Cosmic masturbation. Ontological horror. And deep symbol. Inversion of the Trinity. Christian Trinity. Father Son Spirit. Otherness in unity. Love in circulation. Fecundity. The Son proceeds from the Father. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Constitutive relations. Life. But the Devil. Closed monad. No relations. Impossible self-generation. Sterile parody of the Trinity. Absolute solitude. Ontological death. Baphomet of Eliphas Lévi. Eighteen fifty-four. Androgynous. Breasts. Phallus. Goat. Wings. Pentagram. Esoteric symbol. Balances. Good evil. Masculine feminine. Spiritual material. But my Devil. Not balance. Perversion. Confusion. Sterility. Horror.
The gesture. The raised hand. The pointed index finger. Toward whom. Toward us. Toward humanity. Toward you who look. He accuses. It’s his name. His role. His essence. Satan. In Hebrew. “The adversary.” “The accuser.” “The opponent.” In the Bible. Book of Job. Chapters one and two. Satan goes to God. Says Job is faithful only because he is blessed. “Test him.” Misfortunes. Diseases. Losses. Role. Question the sincerity of faith. Provoke trials. Accuse virtues. Cynicism. Suspicion. Perversion. Zechariah three one. Satan accuses high priest Joshua. Before God. Denounces his impurities. God rebukes. “The Lord rebuke you Satan.” The accusations. False. Unjust. Perverse. Revelation twelve ten. “The accuser of our brothers. Who accused them day and night before God. Has been cast down.” Permanent role. Accuse ceaselessly. Denounce sins. Demand punishments. Christian tradition. Accusation. Essence of the Devil. He divides. Accuses humans before God. Separation. Accuses God before humans. Divine injustice. He despairs. Guilt-trips. Crushes. Paralyzes. Versus Christ. Consoles. Lifts up. Forgives. He lies. The accusations. Partial. False. Hypocritical. Hides his own responsibilities. My painting. The Devil’s hand gesture. Points. Accuses. Message. “YOU guilty. Look at Stalingrad. YOU did this. Horrors. YOUR works.” And perverse morality. Inversion of guilt. The Devil. Tempter. Pushes to sin. Incites violence. Inspires hatred. Active role in evil. But claims. “Not me. You. Free will. Choices yours. Responsibilities yours.” Hypocrisy. Bad faith. Complex truth. The Devil tempts. But humans choose. Co-responsibilities. But the Devil minimizes his part. Rhetorical technique. Designates victims. “Look at the dead. The suffering. The destruction. YOU did this.” Crushing guilt. Forgets context. Doesn’t mention temptations. Oppressions. Structures of sin. Reductionism. Despairs. Humans. Monsters. Irredeemable. Damned. Versus Christ. Sinners. But salvageable. Hope always. Concrete example. Stalingrad. The Devil accuses. “Hitler. Stalin. Soldiers. Peoples. YOU guilty two million dead.” Conceals. Doesn’t mention his own temptations. Nationalism. Hatred. Pride. Revenge. That he inspires. Result. Humans. Despairing. Paralyzed by guilt. Incapable of hope. Incapable of renewal.
The title. Master of the World. Why the Devil. Why not God. Why not man. Because the facts. History. Reality. Humanity knows no peace. Only temporary. Only localized. Certain places. Few decades. Western Europe since nineteen forty-five. Seventy years without wars. Record. But fragile. Depends on NATO. European Union. United States. Canada. Japan. Australia. Minorities of the planet. But rest of world. Africa. Middle East. Asia. Latin America. Repeated conflicts. Constant wars. Peace. Rare exception. War. Constant rule. All human history. Successions of conflicts. Massacres. Destructions. Twentieth century. The worst. One hundred to two hundred million dead. Wars plus genocides plus provoked famines. World War I. Twenty million. World War II. Seventy to eighty-five million. Stalin. Mao. Pol Pot. Rwanda. Yugoslavia. Technologies. Industrialization of death. Machine guns. Gas. Bombs. Nuclear. Efficiency of massacres. Twenty-first century beginning. Terrorism. 9/11. Islamic State. Al-Qaeda. Wars. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Yemen. Ukraine. Gaza. Sudan. Continues. Empire. Worsens. Tragic conclusion. Peace is not the natural state of humanity. War is the default. Without constant efforts. Peace collapses. Violence returns. Exceptions confirm the rule. Few decades. Few countries. Don’t refute. But underline rarity. The Devil. Master proven by facts. If wars are permanent. Then prince of war truly dominates. If peace is exception. Then prince of peace. God. Christ. Weak. Absent. Defeated. Terrible question. Despairing empiricism. Look at history. Look at world in two thousand two. WHO reigns. The Devil. Obviously. Proven by corpses. By ruins. By Stalingrad. By all Stalingrads past present future. Our world always ends up fighting and eliminating itself. That’s why I tragically named the Devil Master of the World. Tragically. Keyword. Greek tragedy. Oedipus. Antigone. Fatality. Inevitable destiny. Heroes struggle. But fail. Catastrophic ends. Hamartia. Fatal flaw. Pride. Blindness. Catharsis. Spectators purified by emotions. Pity. Terror. Understand human condition. My tragedy. Humanity. Tragic hero. Fatal flaw. Violence. War. Incapacity for lasting peace. Species defect. Not exceptions. Destiny. Kill each other. Eliminate each other. Destroy. Inevitable. Genetic. Cultural. Diabolical. End. Apocalypse. Extinction. Ruins. Stalingrad. Prefiguration of ultimate end. “Always ends.” Cyclicity. Repetitions. Peace then tensions then war then destructions then temporary peace then restart. Eternal return of nightmare. No progress. Despite centuries. Technologies. Philosophies. Religions. Same patterns. Hopes of Enlightenment. Of modernity. Illusions. “Fight and eliminate.” Self-destruction. No external predators. No aliens. No asteroids. No natural diseases. But ourselves. Homo homini lupus. Hobbes. “Man is wolf to man.” Fratricide. Cain and Abel. Archetype. Species suicide. Nuclear weapons. Capacity for total extinction. Cold War. We came close. Future. We’ll try again.
August two thousand two. Brașov. Romania. One year before Paris. I was thirty-seven. Post-communism. Disillusions. Poverty. Corruption. Cynicism. Post-September 11 two thousand one. Changed world. Terrorism. Fears. War on terror. Afghanistan occupied. Iraq imminent. Colin Powell. Weapons of mass destruction. Lies. March two thousand three. Invasion. Chaos. Deaths. Failures. I saw it all coming. I painted the Devil. Master of the World. Black theological vision. Radical pessimism. Nihilism. Damnation. God absent. Invisible. Ineffective. Powerless against evil. Why. Youth. Passionate despairs. Romantic nihilisms. But also. Honesty. Lucidity. Courage. Refusal of comforting lies. Confront terrible truth. Look into abyss. Name the Master. The Devil. Not God. Five meters wide. Monumental format. Ambition. Testament. Last Romanian cry before exile. Before France. Before twenty-three years of struggle. Before transformation. Because twenty-two years later. November two thousand twenty-four. I would paint The Revenant. The Revenant. The inner Christ. Who emerges from within. Who strengthens. Who accompanies. Continuous resurrections. Daily rebirths. Hope always possible. Luminous theology. Mystical optimism. Grace. Salvation. How. How pass from Devil two thousand two to Christ two thousand twenty-four. Twenty-two years of transformation. Two thousand three. Immigration to France. November. Uprooting. Exile. Suffering. But also renewal. Two thousand four to two thousand eighteen. Struggles. The Runner. Ascension calvary. Existence melancholy. Rainbow threats. Souls precarity. But perseverance. Never abandonment. Create despite rejections. Light intact. Two thousand eighteen to two thousand twenty-four. Spiritual maturity. Souls lights. Revenant resurrection. Gentle immanent theology. Factors. Experience of immigration. Suffering. Rejections. Solitude. Precarity. Sharing vulnerable human condition. Compassion. Understands other suffering. Migrants. Excluded. Poor. Solidarity. Discovers wounded humanity. But dignified. Beautiful despite all. Perseverance of creation. Twenty-one years. Continues painting despite invisibility. Act of faith. Hope. Resistance. Inner light. Preserves creativity. Proof of inextinguishable living soul. Encounters. Readings. Mystical experiences. Spiritual influences. Meister Eckhart. Teresa of Avila. Teilhard de Chardin. Mystics of gentle immanence. Graces received. Moments of illumination. Consolations. Divine presences felt. Maturation of age. Youth two thousand two. Twenty-five to thirty years. Passionate despairs. Romantic nihilisms. Maturity two thousand twenty-four. Forty-seven to fifty-two years. Acquired serenities. Hope founded on experience. Lived wisdom. Dialectic. Thesis two thousand two. Devil master. Empirical despair. Antithesis two thousand four to two thousand eighteen. Struggles. Suffering. But perseverance. Refusal of despair. Synthesis two thousand twenty-four. Inner Christ master. Mystical hope. Transcends empiricism. Immanence. Master two thousand two plus Revenant two thousand twenty-four. Major dialectic of life and work. Darkness to light. Despair to hope. Devil to Christ. Twenty-two years of existential Easter. Personal resurrection. Sublime.
Master of the World. August two thousand two. Brașov. Romania. Five meters. Stalingrad. Panzer without cross. Universal. Hermaphrodite Devil. Auto-copulative. Narcissism. Sterility. The Accuser. Pointed hand. YOU guilty. Perverse morality. Inversion of guilt. Humanity incapable of peace. Permanent war. Temporary localized peace. Tragic title. Devil Master proven by facts. We always end up fighting and eliminating ourselves. Self-destruction. Cyclicity. Fatality. Despairing youth. Post-communism. Post-9/11. Pre-Iraq. Black theology. Radical pessimism. But twenty-two years later. Transformation. Devil to Christ. Despair to hope. Immigration. Perseverance. Compassion. Maturation. Easter dialectic. Resurrection. Apocalyptic fresco. Romanian testament. Prophetic. Diabolical. Tragic. Theological. Despairing but honest. Masterful.
