We are accustomed to perceiving evil as something ugly and repulsive. But what if its true form is seductive beauty? This very idea became the foundation of the work “The Battle.”
The painting, inspired by iconographic tradition, transfers the battlefield inside a person. The holy warrior here pierces with a spear not a monster, but a beautiful rider. His beauty is a metaphor for our most alluring vices: those weaknesses we justify, and that darkness we admire.
But the key aspect is that the holy warrior does not embody our virtues. He symbolizes a transcendent force coming from outside, whether it be insight, conscience, or divine intervention. It is this force, not our own will, that provides the possibility for battle.