CHERUB EN FACE WITH ORANGE-COLORED HORNS OF FLAMES 1969

Ernst Fuchs painted "Cherub En Face with Orange-Colored Horns of Flames", using oil on canvas. Fuchs lived through World War II and this likely influenced his later artworks. Looking at the artwork now, notice how Fuchs inverts traditional religious iconography; rather than a soft, docile cherub, we are presented with a metallic, foreboding figure, casting aside conventional notions of purity and innocence. The horns of flames add to the sense of unease, questioning the binary of good and evil. The cherub is presented "en face," directly confronting the viewer, disrupting the conventional passive role assigned to religious subjects, challenging power dynamics. Through his art, Fuchs invites us to consider the complexity of the human condition, and of religious belief, and our own relationship to it. Are we angels, demons, or something in between?