Motivation for Armageddon

My friend Gladys showed a small picture on her wall. She told me this was a gift and represented the end of times. Horses were lined up for a battle with men on their backs in Israel.

This small picture is called Armageddon. Gladys said ,”This is a lengthy story and one day I will explain it to you.”

So I decided to sculpt her a relief with horses,showing and sharing the complexity of the story in a sculpture that speaks a thousand words.

I was tiredly thinking of how to go about this. I definitely wanted horses with their strong force and strength. I wanted a battle. Then one day while walking through the LA Museum I came upon a small sculpture on a four foot white roman pillar. The sculpture was a round relief sculpture you could walk around. This was 2 feet in diameter.These were horses battling each other with no men on their backs. This was not a battle of men.This was a battle of horses with their strength and force battling each other made in white marble. I absorbed every detail for hours. They were battling each other furiously. I loved what I felt. There was only one other sculpture in the same room that shared this small room. This was a larger than life sculpture in the corner. This was a bronze sculpture of Lucifer who embodied this whole corner section of the room looking down on the Horses that are battling each other.I’m wondering if the curator did this on purpose. The horses are called The Battle of Armageddon. I’m looking for inspiration today. Well I certainly noticed this positioning of Lucifer looking down on The battle of Armageddon. I could not walk away from this battle. I was looking for inspiration today to express to my friend Gladys that perhaps I could explain to her my understanding of this lengthy story and here lies a sculpture of many horses battling,capturing the forces and representing the will of man.

Lucifer looking down on this battle. I took a thousand pictures.I went home And formed my own drawings and waited for the creative picture that would form from this inspiration and force.

I decided they will come out of the wall.I will form this with a landscape and surround them with rocks and a mountain.

I never had a hard time creating as I did with this piece. It took months to just start. I could not. The drawing was ready. The idea was solid.This was the first time I worked with so much grief, frustration and anger. At the time I was involved in fighting. Not in a ring. Martial arts. Kung Fu San Soo. I had the greatest teacher in Reseda, Paul Borisoff. I was involved with martial arts at the same time I was trying to create this battle of horses. I was always determine to strengthen my body to be strong for martial arts. I would kick with weights on my ankles. running up and down stairs with weights on my ankle and kicking a boxing moving punching bag two feet in front of me after I was intermediately running up and down my stairs. This actually relaxed me a bit. I was calm afterwards. With weights on my ankle. I kept my body in motion working out with all the exercises of martial arts and kicking boxing moving punching bags with my feet with weights on my ankles. Looking back I realize now I truly was unlocking a battle within my self.

Yes I don’t think this is normal to work out like this before a martial arts class, take a martial arts class and then come home only to work out again the same way. I was fighting around the clock.

I was facing a battle with in myself. Thank goodness I chose to fight alone with this.

This truly was the hardest piece to sculpt the battle of Armageddon with horses fighting among themselves while I was fighting a battle within myself.