The Erotica of Avraham "Bera" Bazak

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During his later years in Montreal, from around 1976,  Bera Bazak turned to a series of work that was to occupy him during his time there and to which he would return in the following years in Israel. This subject was Erotica, the exploration and frank depiction of human sexuality, and he derived his stylistic inspiration primarily from the works of Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya.

Bazak's treatment of erotica went well beyond the representation of the physical aspects of the sex act. It was also a commentary on society's preoccupation with the act and with its feelings toward the act. On the one hand "love" was not seen to be a component of these representations; if anything the absence of love in the way that society views sex is quite apparent. Bazak's larger paintings borrowed heavily from Bosch, and like Bosch, for example in his The Garden of Earthly Delights, the human figures do not seem to particularly enjoy the sex they are having. They are forced to have it, sometimes fiendish figures watch or participate; a solitary sense of desperation pervades. This brings to mind Dante's sin of lust, where the souls in hell are carried helpless on the winds of their own desires, never reaching peace. In other paintings, those inspired more by Goya, in addition to grotesquerie aristocratically dressed figures engage in sex acts, and the feeling here is one of voyeurism; the people here seem to be enjoying themselves, but with a sneer. The juxtaposition of the fancy dress and the explicit sex speaks to a kind of hypocrisy, where straight laced societal mores, preaching against carnality, are seen to be disingenuous and laughable.

Yet, as in much of Bazak's work, there is humor here too, and it, together with his strong, vivid use of color adds another dimension to the works, indicating that they are more than a dark vision. On the one hand they are a rebellion against stultifying moral codes composed by those in society who are too uptight to admit to enjoying sex. And, Bazak is winking at us. He is saying, "Look at it, despite your hangups. You have to admit that sex is a turn on." 

  

Robert Nechin

Ein Hod, September 2016