On Trying to Create Art in a World Off Its Axis
Cracks in the Silence grew out of my unease in the summer of 2025. I wanted stability: rules, laws and a basic humanity that we could rely on. Instead, international agreements and institutions seemed increasingly easy for powerful actors to disregard. That sense of a foundation giving way entered my work. I pursue the wider political questions in Terra Dystopia.
Following the news and the echo chambers of social media, I found it harder to hold on to the hope that reason and common values would prevail. At first, I wanted to write a political article. But I discarded the idea—those likely to read it already knew much of what I wanted to say.
Instead, I want to show some recent paintings. They are my response to a world that feels increasingly loud, and to a question I cannot quite put aside: what does it mean to create art when the world around you seems to be falling apart?
Summer 2025: The Search for Essence
This environment, of course, impacts my art. Initially, I reacted by retreating inward. I continued to work on my minimalist series, dedicating myself to details, trying to subtract even more to distill the essence. It was an attempt to create a space of silence and concentration in a chaotic world, an almost meditative counter-reality.
The following image is a result of this phase, in which I changed my technique to express this feeling.
At the center of these works are the opposites in the Daoist sense: silence and noise, order and chaos. I was particularly interested in the boundary, the “in-between”—the moment when the meditative world collides with harsh reality, and we are suddenly torn from our concentration.
The Scream: When the Outside World Breaks In
But this retreat cannot be a permanent state. There are subjects so unbearable that they break through any wall. We know that the most vulnerable among us—especially children—have been subjected to unimaginable abuse throughout history. Yet we tend to suppress, to look away, to relativize.
The killing and injury of children in Gaza during Israel’s military operations made this question impossible for me to avoid. UNICEF’s reporting describes the devastating toll on children [2]. I struggle with the distance between what we can see and what we are willing to acknowledge. I wanted to make a work that could reach the viewer emotionally and encourage reflection, rather than stir hatred.
This is the space where childhood shatters.
In Childhood, a pale, folded form stands against a dark field of floating shapes. For me, it suggests the vulnerability of a child’s protected world. The painting is abstract; the sense of shelter, and of that shelter being disturbed, is the association I bring to it.
The Empire of Lies: From Crime to Narrative
Violence against children is one level of horror. Another is the manipulation of information that can conceal abuse or make it easier to dismiss. The public debate around the Epstein files brought this second problem to mind: how can victims’ experiences be heard amid competing claims, denials and speculation?
How does one deal with this abyss? Getting an overview is the first step. But a look at the media landscape reveals a surreal picture: Epstein’s crimes, his death in custody, the continuing release and discussion of documents, and conflicting public claims have produced an inextricable mass of facts, accusations, denials and speculation. What remains is a disturbing example of how difficult it can become to distinguish established facts from the narratives built around them.
When Truth No Longer Matters – Cracks in the silence
Is any of it even true? That question was once the beginning of all reflection. Now, however—and this is perhaps the greatest source of frustration—it seems it no longer matters whether something is true. All that matters is the narrative, the story, which can be adapted at any time. In such an environment, trust, confidence, and empathy wither.
And here, the circle closes back to my art. If objective truth disintegrates and only narratives remain, what then is the artist’s role? Perhaps it is not to depict the one truth, but to create a space where feeling and reflection become possible again. A space that makes the cracks in the silence visible.
Silenced Messengers
The decay of truth that I described in the first part leads to a disturbing strategy for dealing with problems. Instead of fighting the causes, we fight those who point them out. The old principle of first analyzing the facts and then seeking a solution is being systematically dismantled. The messenger with the inconvenient news is simply silenced.
What troubles me is the impulse to discredit inconvenient evidence: threaten the researcher, intimidate the reporter, withdraw support for the means of observation. These are different situations, but they raise the same question for me: are we trying to understand a problem, or to stop hearing about it?
The Facade of Nature
The paintings below approach this question through the environment: an attractive surface can draw us in before we notice the disturbance within it.
In The Trash Within Us, rounded turquoise and brown forms gather over a pale ground. Their softness is interrupted by angular edges, pale fragments and dark marks. I associate these shapes with an underwater environment, but the picture remains abstract. The tension between organic forms and intrusive fragments is my way of approaching pollution as something that enters living systems.
In Golden Trash, yellow and ochre areas meet a dense mass of green, turquoise and dark shapes. Thin pale lines and angular fragments break across them. I am interested in the way colour can make a disturbed scene attractive: we may notice its beauty before we begin to question what we are looking at.
Conclusion
I do not expect a painting to settle these questions. What it can do is interrupt the ease with which I look away. I want the beauty of these works to hold the viewer for a moment—and leave enough unease for a second look.
Footnotes
[1] Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love (1963), “Love in Action.” Related sermon material is preserved by the King Institute at Stanford.
[2] See UNICEF’s statement of 27 May 2025 on children reportedly killed or injured in Gaza. This essay reflects my response in the summer of 2025.
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