Indeed, Bak’s art always seems to be too relevant as the War on Israel continues. At this moment, Israelis are the victims of the atrocities and soon after the devastating bombing, the Gazans will be the victims. How does this chain of murder and hatred ever stop?
Whether you identify with the ancient figure who holds the flaming chimney (as well as the idle exhausted chimney) or the younger man seeming to pull the blanket loaded with the detritus of war and destruction, how do we make any sense of the cycle of continuing horror?
Bak’s art has focused on the broken and dark side of human behavior. The evil of the Holocaust has defined our world and each bestial event can reference these disasters.
Yet do we do not learn from our Past? One can point to the disconnect of the generations yet this is not an inter-generational problem--it has been a tragic part of human history.
The superb educational and values based organization "Facing History and Ourselves" points to the ongoing need to face our past and try to learn from our misdeeds so that there can be a better and fairer future for all.
Again we have failed to learn, to repair and to respect.
Are you sure you want to "Come Along"?
Bernard H. Pucker, BAK a Day, October 10, 2021
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Be careful when you ask for something as you may get more than you asked for! COMING ALONG may be a note about memory.
Memory is much more than we can conjure; it is just there and often surprises us with the morsels of events and experiences that remain within our grasp. The juxtaposition of experiences may reconfigure these moments and create completely different takes on what was.
Memory itself is elusive and often helps us or distracts us from the impact of what we experienced.
One figure with his back to us is pulling a canvas filled with fragments of houses and chimneys, one belching smoke and another dormant. A bearded, elderly man determinedly pointing out something of urgent need. All parts of the memory of the devastation that was.
These memories are coming along and reminding us that our past, and that of humanity, is always with us.
Bernard H. Pucker, BAK a Day, November 23, 2022
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Or Pulling My Way.
Do we need to drag our past into the Present?
The old man is pointing at the other person. Is it to accuse or direct?
The detritus which surrounds the bearded man of broken house facades as reminders of the people who lived in these houses. The chimney in the background belching smoke and ashes. The figure holding two brick chimneys with one spewing flames and smoke; the other abandoned.
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