Laokoon by Rezo Kaishauri From Paranoia II series (2002-2009), colored pencil and ball-point pen on paper, 200 x 220 mm

Artist’s Note:
I fear to disappoint you, but there is no particular message in this piece. It’s just my surrealistic and humorous take on the famous statue, something like Dali did in his Millet’s Architectonic Angelus.

As you may know, the Laocoon Group was unearthed in a vineyard in Italy, hence the shovel and the vineyards in the background. In my work the statue is represented as a modernistic sculpture, with reinforcement rods in place of the original snakes.

The Laocoön itself is is particularly interesting. The original date of the creation is unknown, but believed to be created around 200 B.C.. After it was unearthed from the vineyard it was acquired by the vatican and its restoration was worked on in part by the famous renaissance artists (and teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles) Michelangelo and Raphael. The artists eventually decided that the arm should be out-stretched, however now scholars believe that the original arm was bent back and have replaced the arm to its intended position.