Hanuman
The Hanuman series of over 20 pictures was inspired by Hans's trip in autumn 1998 from London to Vrindavan, India overland by bus. An epic journey taking him through Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Jerusalem, Iran, Pakistan and finally into India.
Hans pays homage to eastern spirituality in an unconventional portrayal of characters and episodes from the great Indian epic the Ramayana. The impressions from his travels form the background to the story of Hanuman, the Indian monkey god and personification of devotion. When Sita is abducted by the evil Ravanna her beloved husband Rama and his brother Lakshman set out to find her. In the course of their search they meet Hanuman who sets himself the task of finding Sita. Hanuman embodies a centrally important moral principle, how to discover your own potential in the face of great challenges.
The work was produced during the years 1998 to 2001 and has been widely shown including exhibitions in Berlin and Russelsheim curated Dagmar Eichhorn. A catalogue "The Hanuman Cycle" Overland to India" has been published by Opel. The catalogue text to the pictures is reproduced below the pictures when they are selected.
Copyright Hans Diebschlag All Rights Reserved
The Hanuman series of over 20 pictures was inspired by Hans's trip in autumn 1998 from London to Vrindavan, India overland by bus. An epic journey taking him through Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Jerusalem, Iran, Pakistan and finally into India.
Hans pays homage to eastern spirituality in an unconventional portrayal of characters and episodes from the great Indian epic the Ramayana. The impressions from his travels form the background to the story of Hanuman, the Indian monkey god and personification of devotion. When Sita is abducted by the evil Ravanna her beloved husband Rama and his brother Lakshman set out to find her. In the course of their search they meet Hanuman who sets himself the task of finding Sita. Hanuman embodies a centrally important moral principle, how to discover your own potential in the face of great challenges.
The work was produced during the years 1998 to 2001 and has been widely shown including exhibitions in Berlin and Russelsheim curated Dagmar Eichhorn. A catalogue "The Hanuman Cycle" Overland to India" has been published by Opel. The catalogue text to the pictures is reproduced below the pictures when they are selected.
Copyright Hans Diebschlag All Rights Reserved
8 Damascus
The Road to Damascus : Hanuman is Searching for Sita / Die Strasse nach Damaskus : Hanuman sucht nach Sita (1999)
Oil and Tempera on canvas
74 x 59 cm
Sold
Traveling the length of the Turkish Mediterranean, seeing Troy and Ephesus on the way, Homer's Odyssey becomes reality. It is wonderful to see the Aegean, with its islands floating like clouds in the blue sea. Near Antioch the bus leaves the coast and we travel through the Syrian desert to Damascus. There is a surreal episode in which our Syrian guide congratulates me for being German and applauds the Holocaust as if it happened yesterday; meanwhile I saw this motorcyclist next to our bus. What drew my attention were the two angling rods which were sticking up from his motorcycle like flagpoles. My immediate question was where would he find water to fish in, as we hadn't see any river or lake for hours.
On this trip I saw many strange motorcycles, usually Czechoslovakian Jawas dressed up like the donkeys with carpets and camel bags, and one carrying a family of four with luggage, but the man with the angling rods in the desert reminded me of the Fisher King in the Grail story. It was as if he were fishing for lost souls, and so he became Hanuman, who is looking for Sita; I hint at her in the sand devil that rises in the desert.
The Road to Damascus : Hanuman is Searching for Sita / Die Strasse nach Damaskus : Hanuman sucht nach Sita (1999)
Oil and Tempera on canvas
74 x 59 cm
Sold
Traveling the length of the Turkish Mediterranean, seeing Troy and Ephesus on the way, Homer's Odyssey becomes reality. It is wonderful to see the Aegean, with its islands floating like clouds in the blue sea. Near Antioch the bus leaves the coast and we travel through the Syrian desert to Damascus. There is a surreal episode in which our Syrian guide congratulates me for being German and applauds the Holocaust as if it happened yesterday; meanwhile I saw this motorcyclist next to our bus. What drew my attention were the two angling rods which were sticking up from his motorcycle like flagpoles. My immediate question was where would he find water to fish in, as we hadn't see any river or lake for hours.
On this trip I saw many strange motorcycles, usually Czechoslovakian Jawas dressed up like the donkeys with carpets and camel bags, and one carrying a family of four with luggage, but the man with the angling rods in the desert reminded me of the Fisher King in the Grail story. It was as if he were fishing for lost souls, and so he became Hanuman, who is looking for Sita; I hint at her in the sand devil that rises in the desert.
hans diebschlag
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