Ken Goshen

This painting is part of a body of work that is my attempt to engage with, express, and explore memories from my military service in the Israeli Defense Forces. What captures me most when reflecting on those years is a sharp contrast between two opposing experiences: the somber reality of a nation in conflict, and a seemingly inevitable ambience of youthful play. Israelis are mandated to join the military directly after high school, forcing an adolescent mentality to hastily give way to tentative maturity. With life and death on the line, the teenager must suddenly reckon with real stakes and consequences. The result is an unstable hybrid -- forced at once to be both puerile and mature; a life of contradiction, full of charming imperfections. This project is inspired by moments when the child can be seen through the cracks in the soldier veneer, casting a dream-like spell on the concrete, mundane surrounding of military drudgery.