2004
acrylic on paper
23½ x 20 cm
explanation
"New kinds of germs - microscopic creatures which lodged in the bodies of men - made their appearance. But these creatures were spirits endowed with reason and will. People who became infected with them at once became mad and violent. But never had people considered themselves as wise and as strong in their pursuit of truth as these plague-ridden people. Never had they thought their decisions, their scientific conclusions, and their moral convictions so unshakable or so incontestably right. Whole villages, whole towns and peoples became infected and went mad. They were in a state of constant alarm. They did not understand each other. Each of them believed that the truth only resided in him, and was miserable looking at others, and smote his breast, wept, and wrung his hands. They did not know whom to put on trial or how to pass judgement; they could not agree what was good or what was evil... Men killed each other in a kind of senseless fury."
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment