Stephen and the Ethiopian Eunuch

The 12" x 12" collage on canvas below is a good example of the surrealistic results one gets by starting with a text and trying to render it fairly literally using only available magazine illustrations. The subject is the meeting of Stephen with the Ethiopian eunuch in the desert and joining him in his chariot (Acts 8:26-40). The modern parallel that struck me was that of hitchhiking. This, in turn, led me to the picture of a Roman statue with his thumb raised.  This story has a dual importance in the early life of the church since it shows the incorporation of groups excluded from much of Jewish sacrimonial life: eunuchs and gentiles.

Hitchhiker (2012)

Submit to One Another

Paul, in Ephesians 5:21 urges his audience to "submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ." He then spells out various situations where this principle applies. The piece below was constructed around that theme using an unusual metal change counter. You can barely see the pictures of a sub and a mitt in the top portion of the assemblage.

Submit (2008) (4 1/2" x 18 1/2"  x 3 1/2" deep)

top

bottom

John the Baptist

An old windowpane that I picked up in an antique store proved to be an ideal frame for a series of collages based on the life of John the Baptist. See if you can follow the story from these illustrations.

Scenes in a Life (2006) (31 1/4" x 20")



Vending Machine Art

I purchased an old gumball machine and, after some tinkering with the mechanism, altered it so that only balls of a certain size could fall into the bottom chamber when the handle was turned. It seemed like a good analogy to the separation of the sheep from the goats at the Final Judgment (Matthew 25:31-33) and was an especially apt use for a vending machine having VICTOR as its tradename.  Painting the wooden balls with acrylics completed the piece, the details of which are unfortunately rather hard to see in a photographic reproduction.

Victor Vending Machine (2009) (7" x 7" x 12")

Structure of The Book of Revelation

It is well recognized that most of the Book of Revelation is arranged around groups of sevens: seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven plagues, etc. The controversy stems around the chronology of these groups of seven. Does each set of events follow the previous one in chronological order, or does each set recap the same series of events but using different imagery? For a good defense of the latter view, see the classic study More Than Conquerers by William Hendricksen.  Since the printer's tray below contained two 7x7 grids, it seemed natural to use it to illustrate the Book of Revelation.

Sevens (2008) (22 1/2" x 17 1/2")

mixed media in printer's tray



"God gave them up"

This subject quote is one of the most frightening phrases found in the Bible. Paul uses it three times in Romans 1:18-32 to describe the fate of those who purposely suppress the truth in order to follow their own sinful ways.  The rather complex piece pictured below is an assemblage constructed around an old nichos, or Mexican shrine. It illustrates the sort of things we worship in place of God. It is actually a piece of kinetic art since the vertical rod in the center rotates slowly due to the action of an old rotisserie motor housed in the top portion of the nichos.

"God gave them up" (2008) (13 3/4" x 23 3/8" x 7")

I Samuel 5

I Samuel 5 tells the interesting story of the Philistines capturing the Ark of the Covenant, which is representative of God's presence with the Israelites.  They place it in a building with a statue of their god Dagon. In the morning, Dagon has fallen on his face. The next morning, Dagon is found with his hands cut off. The Philistines are then tormented with some sort of plague until they decide to return the Ark to the Israelites.

One of the lessons to be gained from this narrative is that God does not need us to defend Him. He can do a very good job all by himself.

"The bigger they are..." (2008) (8" x 10" x 8")

wood sculpture with acrylic, gilding and collage

left view

right view

top view

John the Revelator

There is an old Negro folk song called "John the Revelator" sung by Odetta that can be heard on Roger McGuinn's "Treasures from the Folk Den."  Hence the title of the collage below which was created using an unusual wooden antique I picked up somewhere. If anyone knows what the piece was originally used for, I would appreciate you letting me know. The panels slide up and down.

John the Revelator (2008) (15" x 8" x 2")

Daniel 5:23

Another powerful denouncement of idolatry in the Old Testament is found in Daniel 5:23 where Daniel confronts King Belshazzar and announces his impending fate: "You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know; but the God in whose power is your very breath, and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honored." (NRSV)

Blind, Deaf and Dumb (2012) (16" x 20")

acrylic and collage on canvas

2 Peter

The Second Epistle of Peter has been called "the most problematic of all of the New Testament epistles." Part of this reason has to do with the relationship of the letter to the Epistle of Jude, with which it shares a much common language. The literary structure of the letter is also a disputed subject. Without going into the details, my own analysis of the structure of 2 Peter forms the blueprint for the piece shown below. The collage was created using three canvases and a wooden box.

The Second Time Around (2008) (12" x 15 1/4" x 1 3/4")

detail

Genesis 24 and 29

Genesis 24 and 29 contain very similar stories involving a patriarch finding a bride by going to a public well. This phenomenon of repeating patterns within the Bible first leads the reader to a sense of deja vu, which upon further reflection confirms the truth that all history is under the firm control of God.

History Repeats Itself (2010) (12" x 12" x 1.5")

collage on canvas

Idols

The simple "sculpture" below started life as a wooden spool. In a similar manner, many of the idols in ancient times started life as simple tree trunks or large rocks and were elevated to the status of dieties (or their representatives). Many of our idols today also start out as simple material objects or even objectives (fame, power, wealth, respect of others, etc.).  Whatever their origin, their deification must be rejected as King Josiah (2 Kings 23) "broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the sacred poles (Asherim) and covered the sites with human bones." (2 Kings 23:14).

Asherah (2011) (13" high)

Icons

Back in 2005 I was experimenting with randomly pasting images on canvas and then altering the results with an overlay of acrylic paints.  From these attempts came a series of "icons" honoring various NewTestament saints. The narrative content came from placing a more realistic collage in the center surrounded by a frame. Three of these pieces are shown below.

Blue Icon: St. John at Patmos

Green Icon: St. Matthew

Red Icon: St. John the Baptist



Jacob's Ladder

The three-dimensional collage/assemblage below was created around the theme of Jacob's vision of the ladder ascending into heaven--a sort of anti-Tower of Babel. It has been noted that this dream is a type of Jesus' atonement by which he bridged the gap between sinful man and a holy God. Jacob's pillow is a rock with an appropriate cross-like marking.

Despite my well-thought-out purpose in making this piece, the first viewer to comment on it said that she thought the theme was to honor the brave firefighters during the 9-11 attack.  It goes to demonstrate the mystery of how an artist may communicate more or less than he intended.

Vision at Luz (2005) (8 3/4" x 8 3/4" x 1 1/2")

Moses: The Young Prince

We associate Moses with such great events in the life of Israel as the Exodus and the giving of the law that it is easy to forget sometimes that he actually grew up and was educated in the Egyptian royal family.

The Young Prince (2005) (12" x 5 1/2" x 4" closed)

collage in wooden box



This multi-tiered collage is a reminder of the harsh working conditions imposed on the enslaved Jews to support the massive building projects of Egypt. The images come primarily from ca. 1900 advertising cards and an old leather postcard.

Bread From Above

One of the "I Am" statements found in John's Gospel account is found in John 6:35: "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'"  He was contrasting the "food that endures for eternal life (v. 27)" with the earthly food Jesus had provided for the multitudes the day before.

The centerpiece of this mixed media 12" x 12" creation is a small aluminum baking pan with the "loaf of bread" consisting of foamed polyurethane painted with acrylics. It almost looks edible, if I do say so myself.

Bread From Above (2010)

Jasper Johns

I admire the works of Jasper Johns and created one small piece reflecting his style. The various I AM statements of Christ found in the Gospel of John form the theme of this acrylic painting. Together, these self-descriptions not only form a good theological perspective on the person of Jesus, but the phrase "I am" itself is a reflection on the meaning of God's personal name YAHWEH.

Johns' John (2010) (12" x 12" x 1.5")

acrylic on canvas

Repentance

Ezekiel 33 has a lot to say concerning repentance. Perhaps the most important message to be found there is that true repentance is not merely a change of attitude but also one of a changed direction in behavior. The "sculpture" below demonstrates this theme in a rather literal way using two wooden shoe molds. The metal contraption is there to show the constant tension within a believer between the old and new persons.

Repent (2010)

Genesis 1:1-2

From this familiar story in Genesis we often get the idea that God the Father was the only person of the Trinity involved in the creation. A closer look at this passage reveals that the wind/Spirit of God was also present. Turning to the opening of John's Gospel, we see that the Word (Jesus) was also with God in the beginning and that "all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being."
This three-fold involvement in the creation of the universe is pictured in the piece below.

In the Beginning (2012) (24" x 18")

collage and acrylic on canvas

Cigar Molds

Old wooden cigar molds serve as interesting templates for some of my assemblages. Below is a matched pair representing pictorically the literary structure of I and II Corinthians. This diptych was one of the first pieces of mine chosen for inclusion in a juried art show.

I Corinthians (2001)

collage

II Corinthians (2002)

wood, cloth sand, plaster, gilt and acrylic

Donated Pieces: Part 2

Here are some additional 4" x 6" collages prepared as give-aways for a 2010 art show. They are mounted on balsa wood.

Much Study (Ecclesiastes 12:12)

Don't Mess with a Prophet (II Kings 2:23-24)

The Talk of the Town (James 3:5-6)

Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

The Pearl (Matthew 13:45-46)

Puzzling (2 Peter 3:15-16)

The Book of Ruth

I picked up an unusual two-loaf bread mold in an antique store. This item suggested the subject for a collage on the Book of Ruth since it takes place mainly in Bethlehem (literally, "House of Bread").  Each of the four panels represents a chapter in the book.  Doing a collage on a surface that simultaneously curved in two different directions was a challenge but gave an interesting overall effect.

House of Bread--left half (2000) (18 1/2" x 11")

right half

Hebrews 12:1

The Twelfth Chapter of Hebrews starts out: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perserverance the race that is set before us." (NRSV) 

So Great a Cloud: left panel (2009) (7 1/4" x 11 1/4" x 1 3/4" closed)

collage and acrylic in slide carrying case

                                                                          right panel



Unfortunately, the clouds in the right panel obscure the witnesses entirely too much. But perhaps this is an appropriate metaphor for our spiritual blindness.

The Epistle of James

My first two-dimensional works on  biblical themes were a set of five 6" x 5" tinted collages mounted on wood panels and coated with epoxy. These pieces were completed in 1983, each one representing a chapter in James' Epistle. Four of them are pictured below:

James 1

James 2

James 3

James 4