THE ASSASSIN

My choice of subjects teases our knowledge of history by reinstating them within a new context, investing
them with a familiar and coveted status – that of celebrity. What we are witnessing is rather an archaeological investigation created to give to the protagonists of his paintings the chance to experience the level of spectacularization and glamorous media attention that is clouding the perception of contemporary history.
This vaguely lost man portrayed in The Assassin is Gavrilo Princip- a Serbian nationalist who in June 1914 assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – an action that according to many set the ball rolling for a chain of episodes eventually leading to World War 1.