"I painted this piece over the course of a few weeks in 2012 using oil paint on linen. It was part of my first gallery show in the United States at CAVE Gallery in Venice, California earlier this year in April 2013 along with a few similarly themed pieces. I like the violence of American football and I look for interesting juxtapositions in the use of animals. This piece creates association and makes a comment about the contrast in violence in nature and in human society.
To begin this piece I started with a very basic idea about the juxtaposition and contrast of the violence in American football and the fierceness of the animals. The energy in a way is the same, but the incentives are so different. I’m interested in those things we do as people that could not be instinctively explained, but are cultural manifestations rather. The things that would make the animals think ‘Why on earth do they do that?’ Then I made a collage, a drawing and started the painting itself." Joram Roukes
