A DIGITAL EXHIBITION · DAVID SCHURE
SHAKE OFF
THE DEMON
A child. A prisoner. A flower.
EXPERIENCE THE ARTWORK01 / THE ARTWORK
One moment.
Across the wire.
WORK DETAILS
- Artist
- David Schure
- Title
- Shake Off The Demon
- Completed
- August 2026
- Medium
- Graphite on Bristol paper
- Artwork dimensions
- 23¼ × 18¼ in. (59.1 × 46.4 cm)
- Framed dimensions
- 33¼ × 28¼ in. (84.5 × 71.8 cm)
- Conservation framing
- Professionally framed with conservation-grade matting and backing, and UV-protective glazing.
02 / THE GESTURE
She offers
a flower.
He accepts.
Across a barrier built to divide human beings, a small gesture becomes an encounter neither wire nor uniform can fully define.
03 / THE ENCOUNTER
Compassion in the presence of cruelty.
The child is the daughter of a Nazi commander. The man is a Jewish prisoner held within a system of persecution and dehumanization.
They are not equals in circumstance, nor do they share responsibility for the cruelty surrounding them. Yet in this imagined instant, a flower is offered—and received.
It is a moment of tenderness against a backdrop of historical atrocity.
Two faces. One barrier.
An unexpected act of humanity.
04 / THE QUESTION
Who is
the demon?
What is the demon?
Is it hatred? Indoctrination? The belief that another person's life is worth less than our own?
The drawing leaves the question with the viewer. The compassion is visible. The forces that made it remarkable demand examination.
“I wondered who would be looking at this drawing. Would someone see a demon in either of these individuals? And what would that judgment say about the person making it?”
— David Schure
05 / THE ARTIST'S STATEMENT
David Schure
I wanted to bring the human experience closer.
More than eighty years have passed since the end of the Holocaust. For today's generation, those events can seem increasingly distant—something belonging to history books, documentaries, and a world they never knew.
I wanted to bring the human experience closer.
I wanted to create something that went beyond the horror of what happened and reminded people that, even in the darkest circumstances, compassion could still exist.
In Shake Off The Demon , a young girl, the daughter of a Nazi commander, offers a flower to a Jewish prisoner. Despite everything surrounding him, he reaches out and accepts it.
It's a simple exchange. But to me, it says something profound about our capacity for humanity.
I also wondered who would be looking at this drawing. What would they see? Would someone actually look at either of these individuals and consider them a demon?
And what would that judgment say about the person making it?
We live in a time when people are often careful about saying the politically correct thing, yet can be remarkably cruel to one another. We are quick to judge, quick to condemn, and sometimes slow to recognize the humanity in someone we perceive as different.
That contradiction troubles me.
I don't want the memory of the Holocaust to fade into something abstract. I want people to remember that behind the history were human beings—people who suffered, people who made choices, and people whose lives were shaped by unimaginable circumstances.
Shake Off The Demon is one of my more compassionate works.
It isn't intended to provide an answer.
It's intended to make us question the answers we think we already have.
David Schure
The encounter depicted is imagined, set against the historical reality of Nazi persecution. It is not a documented incident.
DISCOVER DAVID SCHURE ↗06 / PRIVATE INQUIRIES
Begin a conversation.
For exhibition, editorial, and acquisition inquiries regarding Shake Off The Demon , contact the artist privately.
Messages are sent privately to info@davidschure.com.