A year after his 2020 gouache painting Study for Old Pair, Bak again includes the motif of nails penetrating a pair of unworn shoes for this charcoal work titled "For Good". Here, the shoes have been placed – or perhaps left – among a thriving lush landscape with a pair of nails driven through them. The number of nails has doubled from the 2020 piece, forcing viewers to confront the violence that has been inflicted upon them and perhaps the man, woman, or child who once walked in them. The placement of the nails also recalls the stigmata, or the bodily wounds inflicted upon Jesus Christ during the crucifixion, symbolizing both the notion of martyrdom and the artist’s time hiding in a Benedictine convent.
The nails that protrude from the brown shoes imply that not only has violence occurred, but it continues; the feet that these shoes once protected are now bare and subject to the Earth’s unforgiving elements. Shoes are essential, as the protection they provide our feet is often imperative to not only our comfort but also our survival. Bak’s choice to depict them in the unsettling manner that he has speaks volumes about his intentions with his work, which is to educate the world about the millions who were killed, namely because of their faith, during the Holocaust.
Lucy McGing (Guest Writer)
BAK a Day, November 5, 2023
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Bak’s "For Good" is a looser drawing, containing a sense of expressiveness, and eliciting a strong emotional response. The looseness of the charcoal combined with animated brush strokes makes the piece feel simultaneously raw and precisely focused.
Although the shoes are inanimate, they have a distinctive sense of character and identity. The shoe on the left faces backward—it is slouched over, suggesting defeat. A nail punctures the surface, crisscrossing the slumped over shoe. The other shoe faces forward, sitting up straighter than the other, and despite the nail holding it down it appears determined to prevail. The opposing directions of the two shoes additionally demonstrates that they are unable to move forward, simply because they can’t choose which way to go. Similar to Van Gogh’s well known Three Pairs of Shoes drawing, the subjects are figurative and emotive, like a portrait.
Although the focus of the drawing is on the shoes, washes of greens and pale yellows creates a sense of place. The background contains hints of trees and mountains in the distance. Despite the expansive landscape, the shoes are unable to make steps forward, as they are anchored to the ground.
In this piece, Bak demonstrates the unique ability of inanimate objects to speak to emotions that can’t be put into words. Although viewers will inevitably make different connections, such as allusions to shoes removed by those taken into concentration camps, we can universally sympathize with the image of a pair of discarded shoes.
Lilly Harvey (Guest writer)
BAK a Day, December 17, 2022
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