“The Garden of Temptations” is the next sculptural composition following the fountain The Origin of Inception and The Gate of Passions in the Greek Park, Odessa
Philosophy behind the concept of this art object: “The Garden of Temptations” introduces anthropomorphic elegant tree trunks with golden apples on them. Allegorical and mythological symbolism enables each part of the garden to gain an intelligible meaning. According to the Greek myth, the goddess Hera received from Gaea the apples of eternal youth. She decided to place them in the garden and made the Hesperides sisters to safeguard them. The apples empowered everyone who touched them to get the immortality and the eternal youth. Hesperides have always been depicted as beautiful nymphs able to turn into apples.
The artist's desire to return to lost foundations of Christian morality is clearly traced, as well as his attempt to reconcile Christianity with Antiquity. The Hesperides’ golden apples evoke associations with the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil and the fruits of another Paradise plant - the Tree of Life: “The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden… the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Both of them are blessed sources of all benefits. Through them a man can be similar to God, through life – not to know death, through wisdom – not to know misconceptions”. Still the Divine Grace can act on humans differently. It’s human freedom, which is tried on in the Garden of Temptation. He gives people the right to choose between Him, their Creator, and life outside God. A man is created free, and in this freedom, he is even given such an appalling right as an opportunity to renounce his Creator, even being doomed to meet his own death. According to a traditional belief, Adam and Eve, who were living in Eden, were immortal and sinless. However, they were seduced by the Serpent and ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, committing a sin. As a result, they lost access to the Tree of Life and found suffering. God closed Paradise to men and banished them.