Gayle Wohlken, Burton, OH USA


'Vlad the Impaler'

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Artist's comments ...

    I see the historical Vlad Tepes (also known in folklore as Vlad the Impaler) as a "saint" in his own eyes. I tried to present him as though he were a religious icon, albeit a dark one.

    This is some information I got from the WWW on Tepes:

    "Most authorities believe the character of Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel was based upon the historical figure Vlad Tepes (pronounced tse-pesh), who intermittently ruled an area of the Balkans called Wallachia in the mid 15th century. He was also called by the names Vlad III and Vlad Dracula. The word Tepes stands for "impaler" and was so coined because of Vlad's propensity to punish victims by impaling them on stakes, then displaying them publicly to frighten his enemies and to warn would-be transgressors of his strict moral code. He is credited with killing between 40,000 to 100,000 people in this fashion."

    I would like to have used more colors, but since I'm newish to hanga, I preferred to keep it simple. My style is naturally bold, that is why I don't persue hanga more aggressively as I tend to feel more at home with gouges and the sponteneity that goes with it.


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