Heaven

Jacques Ellul, the prominent French lawyer, sociologist and theologian, has written a very insightful book entitled The Meaning of the City in which he traces the biblical concept of the city from Genesis to Revelation.  He perceptibly notes that the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation is not a mere return to rural Eden as if millennia of human history had not occurred; this time it is a city in which man and God dwell together.

This was the basic concept behind the mixed media piece (collage, wax, acrylic, plywood, dowels) I created in a small (5 1/2" x 4 3/4" x 2") cigar box.  The advantage of using a box as a "canvas" is that each separate face can be an entirely different picture. The disadvantage is that sometimes the separate pictures do not quite fit together in style or color scheme--which I think is the case with this particular piece.

Urban Eden (2009)

 The "urban" part of the picture is found on the outer lid of the box.

The "Eden" portion of the piece is found on the inside of the lid. The base of the box pictures the River of Life described in both Genesis 2 and Revelation 22. This river ties together the two diverse images of heaven as well as serving as a set of bookends for the whole of the Bible.