Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Size: 74.8” x 61” (190x155cm)

Year: 2016

Description: Originally this painting was a continuation for the Hannibal piece. It was supposed to be called Scipio Africanus and the fall of a city. The city illustrated was Carthage that was wiped off the map after the Romans invaded it which led them to build an empire that would last a millennia and shape the western and most of the world we know today. The colors were supposed to be solemn colors, a mix of dark blue gold and green so as to add to the symbolism of a past event. But after the blast on august 4 where the artist almost lost his life, he found himself not being able to paint it in the colors he intended. He kept the design but changed the colors in order to give a more current feel, where the destruction and chaos were represented in the now. This painting took a lot from him and that’s why it took him more than 5 months to complete. Rather than sad ceremonious observe, he was obliged to depict macabre upheaval. The face he drew weeks before the explosion was the face of a woman he saw dying at the entrance of the hospital near where he was situated at the time of the blast. The background that was supposed to be blue and black became the colors of the mushroom cloud that formed. The destruction of the threads of society which were supposed to be in gold and bronze became the glass of the windows and bricks of destruction. The crown which was supposed to shine in pure gold as a testament to what was became dusty and opaque to emphasize on the corruption, weakness and failure of a negligent, criminal and corrupt so-called government. Only the green of the face was unchanged from the initial sketch for green is the color of rebirth making it the color of hope