UNFINISHED

This series explore the intersection of two overtly didactic and moralizing arts, Counter-Reformation baroque and Yugoslav socialist art. At this juncture, there is a tension between explicit suffering on the one side and forced optimism on the other, between the martyr hero and the working-class hero. The role of propaganda in didactic art is most present in the time of crisis, confusion and hopelessness. Religion and ideology are helpful in lessening our archaic fears of nature. For example, self-flagellation was practiced as a preventive cure during the Black Plague pandemic in the Middle Ages as it was believed to be a punishment from God. The builder is trying to atone for sins, extending his time by whipping himself and working hard.