ArtWay

Beauty awakens the soul to act. Dante

Jan Krist & Gor Chahal

Gor Chahal: Protest Song 

and
 
Jan Krist: Hope
 
 
Gor Chahal: Protest Song, 1998 
 
 
 
Jan Krist: Hope
 
Let’s talk about fear
And the toll that it takes on us every day
And pain, grief and doubt
And the way that it pulls us inside out
If you believe nothing’s gonna change
Just leaves you prisoner to the pain
 
But what makes the abused refuse to back down?
What makes the broken stand their ground?
What makes the heart start to believe?
What is the gift that faith receives?
What is the soul of the mystery?
What breaks the hold of brutality?
 
Hope with its eyes wide open
Hope with its will unbroken
Hope
 
And let’s talk about what has become
Of the trust that we gave and the things we have done
And faith in something bigger than us
More true than people who vie for our trust
Trust is used, truth is betrayed
How’s anything gonna change?
 
But what makes the abused refuse to back down?
What makes the broken stand their ground?
What makes the heart start to believe?
What is the gift that faith receives?
What is the soul of the mystery?
What breaks the hold of brutality?
 
Hope with its eyes wide open
Hope with its will unbroken
Hope
 

 

About the Artwork:
Protest Song
Gor Chahal
Color Photograph

About the Artist:
Gor Chahal (b. 1961) is a Russian artist. His early life was less than artistic, and in fact the only artistic education he received was between the ages of 11 to 15 when he studied drawing in the studio of Tatiana Kiparisova. In the early 2000s after several decades of artistic work, Chahal turned his attention to modern Christian art and the dialog that can be born of interaction between contemporary secular and spiritual art. He sees himself as facilitating this dialog. He stresses that his most recent pieces are specifically Christian in nature. Protest Song is a fitting example, the retelling of the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego with a distinctly contemporary feel. Chahal’s most recent works have received a great deal of attention from both secular and religious communities within Russia and abroad.  His work is displayed in public and private collections in Russia, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Japan, the USA, and Egypt.  Both the Church of the Martyr Tatyana at Moscow State University and the secular Tretyakov Gallery have played host to Chahal’s works, so that Chahal’s vision of opening a dialog between the secular and spiritual worlds is beginning to happen.

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