Andrey Kartashov, Sistine Matrix, 2023, Giclée Print on Canvas

The title of the painting is a play on words. «Matrix» is a word in the English language and it is also the surname of the protagonist of the film «Commando». It is the postmodernist remake of Raphael’s «The Sistine Madonna». It is an allegory of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s «mission». In the 70s, body building (associated with homosexuality rather than with supermanship) was just a variety of subcultures of those years. The film «Pumping Iron» opened the door for bodybuilding, which meant it was not about a narrow sect of dedicated adherents any longer, now it was about all areas of big sport and big life. Arnold, in fact, brought bodybuilding like a Madonna her child from the heavenly world to the mortal world. However, in addition to the screen image of a superhero and muscle development toolkit, Arnold brought hope for belonging to excellence; for salvation from that part of himself which was dragging out a miserable existence; for the victory of the Higher «I» over the lower «I». The role of Pope Sixtus is played by Joe Vader, the founder of the International Bodybuilding Federation, who invited Arnold to the USA and became, in fact, his godfather. On the right of the painting you can see Schwarzenegger’s wife, Maria Shriver, who is President Kennedy’s niece. At the bottom of the painting, like Raphael’s angels there are depicted their children: Patrick, Christopher, Katrina and Christina symbolizing the combination of family values ​​​​with career achievements. However, Arnold, like the Olympic rake Zeus, also has an illegitimate descendant, Joseph Baena. He is on the right side in the corner. Оlympians, what Olympians… In Arnold’s hand there is the sword of Conan the Barbarian, which, together with Alice Milano (the kidnapped daughter of Colonel Matrix from «the Commando film»), gives him a resemblance to the monument of the warrior-liberator in Berlin. The picture looped in time is a reminder that the Universe is just a stream of data, a Matrix with a single binary code for Pope Sixtus as well Colonel Matrix... Andrey Kartashov graduated from the A. Erdely Professional College of Arts of the Transcarpathian Academy of Arts in Uzhgorod, and later graduated from the Department of Painting of the Repin St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Portrait Painters Association of America (PSA), and in 2016, he joined the Union of Artists of Russia. His works are represented in the collections of the Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Tianjin Museum, and Liu Haisu Museum of Art in China, Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum in Austria, as well as in private collections of collectors from Russia, the UK, the USA, China, Ukraine, Poland, France, and the Netherlands. Produced using more forward-going technologies like the Metis scanner, which allows for printing out excellent quality art pieces it becomes a high-class, exclusive art piece. Height: 185 cm Width: 140 cm