Samuel Bak’s "Triptych of Inescapable Lot", when seen altogether, shows the journey of a man making his way. The piece doesn’t read correctly when looked at in a traditional English sense, from left to right, and must be read from Right to Left, which is how Hebrew is read.
The man in each piece depicts different feelings. The first painting in the triptych, which I consider to be the piece to the left, has a man running as he falls apart yet grow from within. A tree grows from him and through him, stealing away one of his suitcases and segmenting his body in a way that makes him float in the act of running.
The man in the right painting looks to be made of stone, stuck in stillness, and stuck in despair. The expression on his face is one or wariness, as if he doesn’t know where he is going but is unwilling to go back.
And the man in the center painting is stuck between being able to leave and being forced to stay. Unlike the second man, his face and his neck lay out of stone, yet he is resigned to being where he is. To exist in his moment, perpetually unable to move forward or move back.
Each man is in a way resigned to his fate, of wanting to run and wanting to escape, but being held back by one thing or another. The story the triptych tells is not one of hope, or of happiness, but one of accepting the way things are when you are unable to change them, as each man is unable to change his fate, and yet seems okay with accepting the cards that have been dealt to them.
Camila Martorell (Guest Writer)
BAK a Day, December 23, 2023
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Moving forward is not always a choice. Sometimes it is a necessity, borne out of the need to move on from what has happened; both recognize how it has held you back but also its importance to who you have become.
In this piece [center panel], the man is stuck, his face expresses a sort of dejection at his state of being, an acceptance of being stuck even though his body wants to move on. His shoulders, neck and head lead out of the stone he is stuck in, and his hand shoots out holding a bag. There is a shoe that follows the trajectory of what it would look like if the man had taken a step. Where is he trying to go? What is he trying to move on from?
The calmness of the rest of the painting seems deceitful when observing the man’s face and his look of disappointment. He is stuck where he is with what looks like no chance of moving forward, and no opportunity to go back. He is caught in this moment for the rest of time.
Camila Martorell (Guest Writer)
BAK a Day, December 21, 2023
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A triptych is composed of three separate paintings meant to be displayed in unison. This triptych by Sam Bak has three paintings with the common theme of a single displaced person struggling to escape a destructive force. The unique compositional structure of these works allows them to present a successful visual composition even when the order of their placement is changed.
The first painting shows someone still capable of “running away” amidst the severed limbs of trees (family), carrying a satchel, and having dropped a suitcase or maybe a set of paints. Leaves blow and cloth streams (a bit of a yellow star) to create a sense of motion and urgency. Unfortunately, the figure’s left arm has become detached signifying his escape from the pending disaster is unlikely.
The figure in the second painting with satchel in hand is bound to a stone column and has lost his legs. Although there is a shoe in front him, he is going nowhere. The blue striped panel tacked to the column alludes to a tallis, Jewish history and thus Bak’s experience in Vilna. Many Jews were “cut off” and killed before they recognized the false security of the stony structures which made up their homes and cities.
With a detached tree (dead family) floating away above him and frozen midstride attempting to escape, the figure in the third painting has turned to stone. Much as the Biblical Lot’s Wife turned to salt, this figure is defying the proscription against looking backwards. By invoking the divinely directed destruction of Sodom, Bak invites us to speculate on the role of our faith as we contemplate the catastrophic events our figures have encountered.
Clearly Bak’s Holocaust experience informs the three paintings which compose this triptych. However, who else has or will face the redundantly labeled fate of an “Inescapable Lot”…a black child born in the rural south, a teenager in Ukraine, a young girl in Afghanistan? Even for more abstract destructive forces which seem “inescapable” (such as climate change or nuclear weapons,) these images offer an important visual warning. Look, think and act to change the future.
I invite you to rearrange the three paintings in a different order and create another explanation. Enjoy the genius of Sam Bak!
Dr. Carl M. Herbert (Guest Writer)
BAK a Day, January 28, 2023
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These multiple paintings resonate with triptych paintings in churches as representations of holy happenings.
Bak's triptych works represent the unholy if there is such a term.
There certainly are evil deeds that destroy other human beings for no other reason than greed and dehumanization.
Each of the three figures with one in each panel is trapped.
In this first image, he is caught up in the stone column attached and emerging from it. Bag in hand and empty shoe waiting.
The column also emits flames. The belated burning bush?
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