JNS
Andrey Kozlov was held for eight months by Hamas after he was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.
Andrey Kozlov, 28, a former hostage of the Hamas terrorist group, has turned his pain into art. His work will be on display at an exhibit next month in New York City, the New York Post reported on Saturday.
The “So-Real Surreal” exhibit, which includes a dozen paintings and reflects his experience in captivity, will be on display at the Lux Contemporary gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.
Emanuel Friedman, whose gallery is hosting the exhibit, said Kozlov's art will find a home in museums “for years and years to come.”
Kozlov, who moved from Russia to Israel, was held for eight months by Hamas after he was captured on Oct. 7, 2023, while working as an unarmed security guard at the Supernova music festival where 378 people were killed.
His paintings are inspired by great artists. “The Gift,” reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” evokes “all the suffering I felt, the suffering that the rest of the hostages feel right now,” Kozlov told the Post.
“Highway to Hell” represents the car ride into Gazan captivity. “This is the moment when I expected he was rescuing us,” Kozlov said of the captor, who he thought at first was there to help.
“To create something like this, it speaks for me,” Kozlov told the Post. “It’s another way to tell the story.”
While in captivity, Kozlov would draw on blank sheets of paper that he found. “It was just for my soul and to get my mind out of this prison,” he said.
Kozlov always dreamed of moving to New York. In February, he was given the chance when he was granted a six-week residency at the Mack Art Foundation, a program geared toward emerging artists who don't live in the New York City area.
Christine Mack, founder of the Mack Art Foundation, said on Instagram:
"A few months ago, I received a call from the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) asking if I could meet with an artist from Israel. It wasn’t until I met him in person that I realized he was one of the hostages rescued by the IDF last summer.
"When I met Andrey, it became clear that he needed a space where he could process his experience, pain, and begin to heal. Fortunately, there was a six-week gap in our residency program between two artists, providing the perfect opportunity for him to come.
"It has been an incredible experience getting to know Andrey and witnessing the progress he has made—not only in his practice but also in expressing and processing his experience through his paintings," she wrote.
Kozlov was rescued on June 8, 2024, in a daytime operation carried out jointly by the IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Israel Border Police's Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.
Also rescued with Kozlov were Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, and Shlomi Ziv. All four were abducted from the music festival on Oct. 7.
The rescue mission was subsequently renamed "Operation Arnon," after Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora, a member of the Yamam unit who was mortally wounded during the mission.
