Since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, project Bessarabia has extended to include the works I've recently created, abstract-expressionist representations of war that would be able to convey the urgency and the direct impact that the war had on the people suffering through it. In the beginning stages of the war I kept a graphic diary which captured, among others, the violent acts that the Russian were committing in Mariupol which culminated with blowing up the theatre in Mariupol where around 800 people had been hiding from the bombs with their children. Based on these efforts of representation, I created two large scale works of 1,30m x 1,60m, the first of which you will find below.
In this side-project that is in progress, charcoal was my main medium and after so many sketches and drawings I felt it was the time to continue with larger pieces that would properly reflect the dimensions of war. All lines in these sketches are trying to echo the precision and the unstable nature of warfare.
That's how the first large work came to be, called Imagining the war dragging to a halt.
During the act of creation, when things are flowing, you inevitably stumble upon new ideas. I have integrated elements of recyclable materials in order to capture the three-dimensional character of disintegration and destruction.
End of War Diary Part One.