acrylic, canvas, 140 × 99,8 cm

purchased in 2022

In the painting When Three Do the Same Thing, It's Not a Competition, the artist places three incongruous figures on a carousel: a police officer in riot gear, a gymnast in mid-exercise, and a man in traditional folk costume aiming a loaded shotgun. At first glance, the unusual and picturesque composition evokes a sense of humorous absurdity. On a deeper level, however, the painting offers a critical commentary on artificial social differentiation, in which people adopt masks and perform predefined societal roles.

With irony and exaggeration, the artist levels these differences and places all the supposedly heroic male characters—driven by ego and a sense of importance—on the backs of carousel horses like children at a fair. The painting radiates an energy of reconciliation and equality, while also critiquing the unhealthy and skewed human desire for hierarchy, competition, and displays of power. All this is wrapped in the explosive visual overstatement typical of carnival imagery.

Translation created with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT).