Tom Hume, Winchester, England writes about his work
Untitled
The swastika is one of the most recognisable, and arguably wrongly appropriate images in human culture.
A common misconception is that the symbol was designed by the Nazis, but in fact may have originated as early as 10,000 BC. It appears in many different cultures, with varied meanings.
In East Asian tradition, the swastika can be a homonym of the number 10,000, and is generally considered to refer to eternity as a whole.
The word 'Swastika' is a western translation of Sanskrit word "Svastika" which literally means 'good luck' or 'to be good'.
Unfortunately, in the 1920s, the National Socialist German Workers Party decided to use Swastika, or as they called it, the 'Hakenkreuz' (hooked cross) as their party emblem.
From here we see the start of the unpopularity and declne of the Swastika as a widely used and accepted image.
This idea of mis-appropriation inspired me to paint a swastika without trying to imply any Nazi-related views that I may or may not have.
To me, what is always overlooked with the Swastika is its simple geometric beauty. Technically speaking, it is an irregular icosagon, or in simpler terms, a 20-sided polygon.
My main inspiration for this piece was the Irish painter Sean recommend Scully. I'd recommend checking him out.
This is a work in progress.
*Disclaimer*
This painting is not intended to offend or to cause offense to anyone. I'm not relating this work to Nazism in any way, so please don't interpret it is a Neo-Nazi statement, because I'm not a Nazi, and it isn't.
