LENTEN SERIES: Station 10, Christ is Crucified
I am participating with other artists in creating original art for the Lenten Season. I completed paintings for Station 10 and 14 for the Art Project that will be on display at the Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills during the week of Palm Sunday to Easter 2019.
Artist’s Statement
In these two paintings for Station 10: Jesus is Crucified and Station 14: Jesus is Placed in the Tomb I have portrayed the moment just before and just after the transition from the mortal to the spiritual realm. In both works I have explored a common theme of closure and capture as it relates to release. The visual language I have chosen is cubism. The tone is set by dramatic contrasts of light and darkness. In this visual language I strove to create two abstracted representations of the tension between the mortal world of the prisoner within the walls of incarceration (the captured), and the immortal world of the spirit (release). The only avenue that many of the incarcerated in our American prison system may have to escape their bondage is coming to God through the word or through a direct revelation, or both.
“CROWN OF THORNS”
In Station 10: Jesus is Crucified (Luke 23:33-34) I show a huddled figure overpowered by the guard tower and surrounding prison walls symbolizing capture. A spectacular upward thrust of amber light bursts from the tower and merges into the geometric shapes of the sky. The barbed wire becomes the crown of thorns and the tower morphs into the crown of the Son of God rising beyond the bondage of mortal existence. Light and dark are balanced against each other in a dynamic tension as if to leave the viewer in doubt as to the outcome of the huddled figure who represents both us and the prisoner. This is our common mortal state without the word.
The final painting with texture and paint strokes submitted for the show as a canvas wrap with a 1 1/2 inch deep stretcher frame.
“RELEASE”
In Station 14: Jesus is Placed in the Tomb (Matthew 27:57-60) the tension is resolved. Rather than show in the tomb I chose to show the moment the spirit has risen. The bed in the prison cell is just now, empty, but there is still drama in the ambiguous play of light that fractures the room into shards of light. With the lower half of the room shrouded in darker red and gray tones the bed and walls seam to transform into the rock of the tomb that Joseph provided for Christ’s burial. The upper portion of the room bursts with light through the vertical gaps in the cell wall above the bed. A lily rises above the bed and the cross remains anchored to the bed side. This is a portrayal of the prisoner who has broken through the walls by embracing salvation though Christ.
The final painting with texture and paint strokes submitted for the show as a canvas wrap with a 1 1/2 inch deep stretcher frame.
