Word: weilã
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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...similar soothing sense of color continues throughout the exhibit, and the viewer may well blissfully ponder Weil??s celebration of cultural heritage before realizing the juxtaposition between subject matter and color. In the “Memories and Dreams” catalogue, Weil constantly asserts his “atheistic philosophy,” where he distinctly separates culture from religion and states that he has no interest in religious ritual or faith...
Paradoxically, many of Weil??s paintings draw from the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, where God demands Abraham to sacrifice his son. The ram motif becomes a representation of Isaac. Weil??s subject matter confronts rather than soothes, demanding questions of a God that requires sacrifice...
...Weil??s interest in the story of Abraham and Isaac traces back to the early 1970s, when Weil??s only son was killed by a tractor. Shaped by major events of war and loss, many of his images display a need for answers despite his asserted atheism. The painting titled “The Ram in the Thicket” shows a ram walking heedlessly into a thicket that will ultimately lead to its destruction. The bright colors present a false facade of serenity. Happy-faced yellows and sea green create a lovely effect while obscuring...
...Similar contrasts can be found in Weil??s other paintings. “Memories of a Sacrifice” shows the skull of a ram over bound branches. The bright oranges and reds again obscure the underlying anxiety of the painting. Although the ram is given for sacrifice, the viewer is aware of Weil??s bitter confrontation—Can we really escape the ram’s fate in the face of God’s demands...
...viewer is jolted from an uplifting message of family to the realization of impeding death and annihilation of Isaac and the ram. God does not demand one, but two sacrifices. The relationship between Genesis 22 and Weil??s personal loss and grief comes across powerfully, and the viewer begins to sense how our own fates may not be free from God’s demands...