November 2004
A cycle of three pictures – two of them stylized portraits of boys that I named after my favorite Czech band “Children of Rain” – that are linked by three big topics: “death”, “music” and “storm”. It is the inner storm: a spiritual fight taking place in the heads of the characters. The two boys represent innocence and hopelessness – they know that the music which is born in their heads (hence the symbols of notes) is so endlessly sad and mournful that it kills. They don’t know where it comes from. Both of them chose voluntary death. They are genuine martyrs of music. What you see are their portraits from the other world – the first one is a spiritless container with an unhappy expression and distorted notes on his t-shirt; the other one is slightly merrier because in he is wielding headphones in his hand that represent a contact with the outer world – but watch out! It is the world which didn’t bring him much joy. Hence the link between the headphones and the silhouettes of crows.
The cycle is dominated by a portrait of a decadent hero: MC Dracula – the count of darkness. Formally, I intended him to be a paraphrase of the portraits of rulers and aristocrats by the old masters. As you can see, the count is not happy. He doesn’t know how to be happy. But unlike the innocent boys, he is not sad. The spiteful and unfocused look in his eyes sends shivers down the spine. The count is the same as his substance. The flame of the black candle in the shape of a note is his only tool; he lights up the lethal storm of music in the heads of the victims.
I am finishing this text at 15 minutes after midnight on Wednesday, June 16, 2004. The wind rises behind the windows of my flat; three times the thunder has struck…the count lights another candle.
1/ Children of Rain 1, acryl on canvas, 110x150 cm, 2004
2/ Children of Rain 1, acryl on canvas, 110x150 cm, 2004
3/ MC Dracula, acryl on canvas, 120x 150 cm, 2004
Anežka Hošková, 2004
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