Santa Fe New Mexico

Behind the Trees

This painting is an allusion of the theme "the hunter and the prey," reflected in the well-known expression "not to see the forest behind the trees."

Key Concept
Amidst the excitement of the pursuit, the hunter is oblivious to everything around him. There is only an image of the Deer, the future trophy, in his head. The probable prey blinds his mind and shifts his perception of universal values. He is incapable of noticing how beautiful the world is around him, how in the flashing remains of the day, the deer is part of the world and nature worth admiring.

As in many other works by Vladimir Kush, we see here two spaces: the space of Earthy Instincts and the space of Heavenly Sense, the head of the proud deer. Perhaps the hunter will reach a moment of enlightenment when he will see the forest behind the trees!

“El Dorado,” an earlier painting by the artist, also touches upon the problem of avarice sometimes clouding an authentic worldview.