SOLO

exhibition

“We are all in this planet together and should unite rather than divide, because we have a lot more in common than we think we do. Let's all work together, opposed to working against one another.”

Eugene Kuperman is a published and an award-winning artist.

A portrait of my mentor and friend, Lance Richlin, who posed for a portrait drawing study. I measured his head with a caliper so the portrait is life sized, due to lack of time, I had to finish this drawing from a photograph.

Eugene’s work is in many private collections including in a private collection of Robert Harris Rothchild who has many notable works in his collection by artists like: Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Ernst, Lichtenstein, and many more.

The Devil is in the Details

Oil

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A conceptual work I did regarding the pandemic that has been sweeping the nation as well as the world for a long time. In 2019, two people I personally knew overdosed from hardcore drugs.

This painting shows an arrangement of various different drugs and drugs paraphernalia. In the center are the two most common types, being marijuana on the left and a cap off of an alcoholic drink on the right. They both are situated on my art business card, which has a painting of a homeless man, laying on Hollywood, as passengers pass him by. All of the items are in the form of a pentagram which is linked with the sign of the devil, and the items are also on a symbolic plastic body bag, which is what each victim of hardcore addiction eventually leaves in, if they overdose to death. I did this painting to bring awareness about the dangers of drugs.

Let's all work together, as opposed to working against one another.

An art catalog came out in 2012 featuring many of those artists as well as the work commissioned from Eugene.

The Holocaust, while it was the largest persecution of the Jewish people, wasn't the first.

There has been an attempt to divide humans into over 5000 different ethnic groups, and my question is, whether the original 3-5 racial groups or 5000 ethnic groups, what difference does it make? Do further divisions make people feel more or less secure? I did this painting during a time of political identity segregation in the United States. My initial statement, is that while these three canvases interchange, there is no clear winner. We are all in this planet together and should unite rather than divide, because we have a lot more in common than we think we do. Let's all work together, as opposed to working against one another.

The Holocaust has made it clear that this can happen again, and anywhere.

The Armenian Genocide has not been recognized as a genocide through a worldwide consensus such as The Holocaust has. This painting shows a possibly Turkish man, teasing starving Armenian children and an elderly woman with a piece of pita bread. By doing this piece, I'm not aiming to demonize any group of people, including Turkish people alive today, who had nothing to do with what happened over 100 years ago. However, the problem with this genocide not being recognized worldwide is that it allows for other genocides to take place. If The Armenian Genocide would be recognized, it would create a chain reaction worldwide to stop current genocides and prevent future genocides. Among the victims of the Armenian Genocide, were 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children. Other groups who suffered in this genocide includes 450,000-750,000 Greeks, 300,000 Bulgarians and 150,000-300,000 Assyrians.

This painting is about a newborn baby coming into this world with the mother and the brother welcoming a new member of the family. This theme can be referenced back to paintings by old masters such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Titian, etc. for it being as if it’s Madonna and Child, Adoration of the Magi, or Madonna and Saint John the Baptist with infant Jesus. In the execution of this painting, I referenced back to artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael for his Madonna and Child themes and Michelangelo as well but with the divine sense that comes through his work such as in his Doni Tondo which hangs at Uffizi Gallery in Florence. This painting although not that large in size took me over a year to paint due to the fact that I wanted every square inch of the painting done with utmost love and care. This was a very intimate and spiritual project for me as I felt somewhat connected to the Renaissance masters of the past with their traditional themes.

From 2010 to his passing in 2014, Eugene Kuperman studied with a renowned Russian artist Leonid Steele whose works are in many museums in the world, including pieces in the Tretyakov Gallery in Russia.

One of Leonid’s former teachers was a student of a famous Russian landscape painter: Isaac Levitan and another teacher he had, was a student of the famous Russian artist: Ilya Repin.

The Holocaust, while it was the largest persecution of the Jewish people, wasn't the first. Jews have been scapegoats for everyone's problems for thousands of years. Of course, out of 14-20 million victims of the Holocaust 6 million were Jews. (Although Jews were the primary target of Hitler and the Nazi Party.) That was half of Jewish world population at the time. (Mostly all the European Ashkenazi Jews.) Other groups that were persecuted by the Nazis were: homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, Polish people, Romani people, black people, Soviet prisoners of war, Spanish Republicans and the disabled.
The Holocaust also made it clear that it can happen again and anywhere, this is why the formation of the State of Israel is crucial to the survival of the Jewish people. There is lots of anti-Israel propaganda of which many decent people fall for. However, a lot of it is demagoguery and lies. I have my own criticism of Israel, but I wouldn't want Israel to seize existence as a Jewish state. In today's world, Israel is attacked politically by different countries as well as different professional organizations, while they also give a pass to countries who are far worse abusers of human rights. If there are many Christian and Muslim nations, why is the only Jewish nation the target of all of the hate? Why shouldn't Israel have a right to exist as a Jewish state, in a world which proved to persecute Jews throughout thousands of years and everywhere they lived? Jewish people have ancient ancestral roots to the land of Israel. This isn't to say that Palestinians have no place there, I hope Israel and Palestinians reach a peace agreement to live side by side as neighbors instead of enemies.

This is a social commentary work about life in general and also about how religion or the notion of the divine fits into this scene. With the general aspect of this scene being taken place in front of an Italian church. In this day and age, religion, more specifically Christianity is under attack, for no other notion than the loathing of the idea of God. I find it ironic, as many who hate religion, but love most of the Renaissance and Baroque art, which was inspired by religion and paid for by the church, even many artists that I know, who may look down at Christianity and people who believe in Jesus Christ, yet are fascinated by Michelangelo’s St. Peter’s Pieta which is located at the St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Without The Bible it would be impossible to understand most works by Michelangelo Buonarroti, who happens to be my favorite artist. Many people who hate religion, also may not know that the moral standard which society revolves around, started with religion. The example of this being the Code of Hammurabi from the Ancient Babylon which states rules for society such as “Do not steal from rich people”, which was a progress in terms of ethics, but wasn’t perfected until the Ten Commandments said the same rule but with a slight change of “Do not steal”, as not only from rich people but from anyone in general. Religion had an enormous impact on human history and human civilization, whether it be positive or negative as how some people used religion for their own agenda. Regardless of the kind of influence religion had, it shaped the world that exists today, which we are all a part of.

Do further divisions make people feel more or less secure?

The same model as in the painting "Allegory of Spirit". This was a life drawing study and it also shows the model contemplating as well as within her own thoughts. What is on her mind, is up to the viewer to interpret.