GAS ATTACK - Darko Lesjak

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In the context of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the battles along the river Soča in 1917, Darko Lesjak created a series of works on the theme of the First World War from autumn 2013 to winter 2014. The motivation for the artist to deal with this picture series were the numerous stories he had heard as a child about the First World War and the death of the great-grandfather, who died during the war on the Isonzo front.

About 60 paperworks have been created, expressive works of charcoal and pastel on paper, the technique which the artist thought most appropriate to represent the motifs of the “burned earth”.
In the foreground is the symbolism of the First World War: the use of toxic gases, the depersonification of man, hidden behind the gas mask, frontal trenches, the destruction of man and nature, the use of machinery of war and numerous military graveyards.

The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia and was presented in Slovenia in Ljubljana and in the Pivka Military History Park in 2015 and in 2016 in The Hague, Netherlands, in the Central Building of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Burning man 2
charcoal and pastel on paper
40 x 30 cm
© Darko Lesjak
2014
Gas attack 5
charcoal and pastel on paper
59 x 41 cm
© Darko Lesjak
2013
Dugout 4
charcoal and pastel on paper
37 x 42 cm
© Darko Lesjak
2013
Dark machines 4
charcoal and pastel on paper
40 x 30 cm
© Darko Lesjak
2014
Inferno 3
charcoal and pastel on paper
38 x 69 cm
© Darko Lesjak
2014
Graveard 1
charcoal and pastel on paper
37 x 42 cm
© Darko Lesjak
2014
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