"Beholder" is a masterpiece which speaks to Bak’s unique ability to paint imagery that is both visually stunning and emotionally complex. A figure stands in front of a painting, taking it in, just as we are simultaneously doing as the viewer of this work. All around him are shrouds of a destructive history, including an unrecognizable canvas in the left- hand corner, a tattered suitcase, and discarded shoes. The figure is a traveler on a long, arduous journey, quite literally carrying the wreckage of home on his back.
The figure can be strongly associated with the famous image of the Warsaw Ghetto boy which often appears in Bak’s work—a tribute to the boy himself as well as the many other innocent children affected by the Holocaust. He wears the same cap and jacket, although he appears older now and healing in some ways from his injuries, with a bandage tied around one of his hands and a cane in the other. How can history be rewritten through the lens of art?
He looks towards the painting for answers, or maybe an understanding of his past. There are signs of a new future in the foreground, such as a crane and a couple houses. On the right side of the painting, a ship crosses the water, perhaps in reference to the SS Exodus, a ship which carried 4,500 Holocaust survivors toward Palestine. Before it’s arrival the British intercepted the ship, and the refugees were forced to return to displaced persons camps in Germany. The ghost of the ship appears in the painting as a reminder of hope and freedom lost.
There is a crack in the painting, as well as the wall above, revealing blue sky. Art gives way to reality, suggesting that there are limits to what can be captured within the canvas. However, art provides both the viewer and the figure with a chance to reimagine and understand what is otherwise incomprehensible.
Lilly Harvey (Guest writer)
BAK a Day, October 7, 2023
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