ārmageddon (WORLD 2.0)

ārmageddon I

materials:  acrylic, wood, plaster, metal, glass, sand, holy w
size: 50''x 94''
years: 2017-2022
weight: 40 lbs
work capacity (painting): ~479 hrs est. 
Knowledge Base: over 900 hrs
Insperation: Religion of the world, 21st Centuary.

Location: NEW EĀRTH MUSEUM, REDHOOK, NY (SInce 2023)
Publications: America (Miami - Art Basel 2022, Israel 2017-2022)

heteronymous:

the heārtist - Heārt [Recanati]

arcānes: necrōmancy, ālchemy, transmutātion, Illusiōn, evocātion, summōnning, religiōn, divinātion, diābolic

although the word armageddon by itself comes with apocalyptic events at the end of the word which has yet to come, I would like to express it differently, my ārmageddon is with macaron and instead of ending, it means the beginning of an era that we have not yet to know.

I began my journey with Jesus on one gloomy evening at my heārt gallery which is located somewhere on the border between no-where and nowhere, that place I call wonderlānd is the gate from our mortal world into the arid lands of infinity.

The sun had just set down and I remember the twilights that were emerging, I was in the middle of the creation of an artwork I called “The blue tear of America" ​​in which the main motif was the Statue of Liberty that is bleeding blue Crocodile-tears from his left eye and from his right eye dusty tears made out of silver and gold.

I was looking towards hēll from the direction of heāven and suddenly I see that figure of a handsome young man with curly hair and suffering deep eyes, this visage couldn't leave my head for a while, I understand it was Jesus speaking to me, wearing the tiara of the Statue of Liberty and wires covering his forehead, I had to look up as he appeared like eight feet from the ground, and voices come to my head until suddenly I understand it all.

In Hebrew there is a word to that called “מסר” meaning like a message from above, I instantly understood that in order to elevate the messer I must become a channel for that soul through me and my crafting hands, which are my gift from God. That responsibility stroke me all of a sudden that became bigger than my human needs, I immediately started painting “ārmageddon” the following day, and I can still remember myself back then having no clue what I was doing and how deep that rabbit hole goes.

In order to paint ārmageddon, I had to learn a lot and I’ve found myself nights likewise days, reading about world religions, the new testament, and Qu’ran,

This will be the explication of ārmageddon:

Old New York is burning and an old yellow cab is popping out next to prominent corporations that are symbols in our culture and planted in the work.

I should point out that this is not an advertising message of any kind but strictly an expression of my heārt.

Kodak - a huge corporation that once dominated the field of photography, swallowed up like never existed in the shadows of technology, became an almost anonymous printing paper manufacturer, this is how I illustrate the progress and how it can change the face of the world, those who are not altering themselves in the timeline will consequence a different future.

Bank of America - not because of the bank itself but rather what it represents, the money of the world, a statement within an almost broken logo of an iconic monetary corporation to illustrate how money rules the world and old money is soon to become virtual too, all taken place in the center of our known world, Times Square, NY.

And the shiny addition of McDonald's - one of the largest corporations in the world that almost dominates the field of fast food and their flawless maneuverability and openness to progress, again not because of McDonald's themselves but in order to illustrate our lives in the 21st century, humanity in the fast lane.

I’ve planted the messages of the signs on top of burning Times Square buildings, also in the center of the work there is a clock which hanging on the center building pointing at seven o’clock- very important indeed.

My beloved friend, Louis Carroll in his masterpiece “The adventures of Alice in Wonderland” chapter VII, it’s always six o’clock at the Mad Hatter Tea Party, Carroll has frozen time, to the exact timeframe he desired, an allegory for the situation in which the table is always set and you always find the Mad Hatter at the Tea Party with his friends, Like Carroll, I set the o’clock at Seven, to emphasis that humanity already late and past that tea party, when Times Square NY - the center of the world is set on fire, our time is burning while we are always late, hurrying to get inside that old taxi that will take us from nowhere to nowhere else.

The old taxi commemorates the old fashioned labor and gives an eclectic taste to ārmaggeddon, it is a classic battered NY Taxi - one headlight is broken, and the front bumper is made of cast iron, to illustrate how things were once built in order to last forever.

I made Jesūs head tiara as a barbed wire fence with luminous blood on the top of it, I used iron wires, wool, clay, and ropes that I had to light in order to give them that ancient look.

Iron is wrapped as barbed wire and spikes, just like they were in the concentration camps in Auschwitz in World War II, to illustrate the suffering both Jesūs and humanity went through due to their wars based on racial and religious backgrounds.

From above the Golden Bridge, the road to New York from New Jersey, between living the dream and almost, what is a better life? those who live in the fast lane and those who choose to slow down a bit and enjoy their sane calm life.

Jesūs is suffering and his eyes are hopeful and deep, they passed through several generations already, in the first generation I photographed the work and created two works from it, one is fun to have digital pop-art, in which Jesūs smokes a cigar in the shape of a dollar bill, and on the side of the picture the inscription written as in the US dollar bills “in GOD we trust”, Jesūs has shiny white teeth which illustrate the fakeness in the paradigm of aesthetics.

Due to my maturity and development during the years and my disillusionment after over 300 hours that I worked on this work, during the time when I studied and read the Islamic secered book, the Qur’an, I chose to add additional depth to this work, as an artist I was very impressed by the beauty and grace that exists in Islam and its customs and the pictorial visual manner of the liturographic inscription and then a few years ago while presenting the The work in the psychedelic museum that I create in nature in a forest, I placed the work in a tree in the middle of a tent complex and next to it a speaker from which for two nights and a day in between the voices of a muezzin emanated, after campers who were there came to me and mentioned that they had out-of-body experiences with the work, I took it and chose to insert elements Muslims for the picture to illustrate the openness of the world that religions are assimilated into each other and my personal belief that God is one and he embraces all his children without distinction with great love and I colored in black and gave an additional Muslim character to my Christian work.

My mother came into my house one day and there was Jesus standing in the center of the living room, she raised an eyebrow and asked how could it be that I'm Jewish and have a picture of Jesus in the living room, so I still didn't have clear answers, but today I understand that this piece actually symbolizes the new era that the world is marching towards and the acceptance of any person.

In Hebrew, there is a sentence that I interpret differently than usual.

He makes peace in his high places, he will make peace for us and for all his people right to God, the addition of my middle dash here to differentiate from the usual is that God embraces everyone who believes in him regardless of religion, color or gender, we are all the sons and daughters of God.

There are no chosen people here, there is no one's religious superiority here, God is love and it is eternal, God loves us all

One day, years ago, I made a wish. A strong visual played in my mind, and for years it accompanied to remind me of my intentions. The years passed, and this visual would visit me occasionally in my waking moments. Upon opening HEĀRTRIUM, this visual came one last time, shocking my senses and arresting the flow of time. Looking into the chaos, or “hēll”, that was the space at its birth, I saw a gentle face looking towards heaven.

The face of Jesus, soothed me not only because of its symbolic significance but also because it was that face, in the midst of chaos, that revealed itself to me years ago. I have come to the knowledge that my awareness has shifted in time to this present moment. This understanding has sparked a new fire within to embody the heārtist: the essence of my incarnation.      

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1lMv8vWVr1A