"THE PERSECUTED" constitutes a major work in the artist's ouvre. It is an Authentic Signed and Dated (1975) earlier Ari Roussimoff Oil on Canvas Painting, measuring a monumentally sized 42 x 60 inches. This Painting is incredible in the sheer amount of emotion it conveys. A striking painterly monument to the victims of naziism. With powerful brushstrokes and intensely penetrating colours, the artist vividly depicts the brutal results of rampant rascism unleashed. In the horrible aftermath of a pogrom, the dark snowy street is littered with the mortal remains of innocent people, victimized because of their religious beliefs and ethnic heritage. In the backround, a torched Synagogue burns. The fire is the flame of ignorance and evil which is not easilly put out. Mankind's ungodly lust for wickedness has merged with the apathetic to create a living nightmare on earth. Hovering in the skies at the top of the scene is the anguished figure of Jewish history. With his long patriarchal beard and majestic appearence, he has accumulated much wisdom through the ages. His faith in the Almighty still intact, the patriarch passionately clutches the Holy Torah Scrolls to his breast. In the lower portion of the composition, a hand points to the Holy Words which holds mankind responsible for its sins. While the message of this Holocaust Painting is truly universal in every sense, Roussimoff puts this universality in the context of its pointedly Jewish experience, bringing the historic context of ethnic Jewish persecution, suffering, and transcendence into the central focus. The artist counts this painting among his most inspired and significant works.

"THE PERSECUTED"

Oil on Canvas by Ari Roussimoff