The Book of Ruth

One gallery I am associated with required a certain number of 12" x 12" x 1.5" canvases for each show. After playing with combinations and permutations within these size restrictions, I came up with the idea of gluing two thinner stretched canvases back to back and utilizing the wooden stretchers as an integral part of the piece. The various squares surrounding the center canvas contain plastic, wood or metal pieces representing various events in the life of Ruth the Moabitess, a distant ancestress of Jesus.

The Game of Life (2010)



The edges (not shown) are painted in the typical bright Monopoly colors, the die in the center represents the four chapters of the Book of Ruth, and the "Chance" rectangles point out the main theme of the book-- the hidden providence of God over events in our lives.

The two large cards in the center represent two views of Ruth herself. The black-and-white card is an illustration from an old Catholic story of the Bible, and shows the standard view of Ruth as a prime example of a "pious" woman. By contrast, the turn-of-the-Twentieth Century trade card has been utilized to picture her as an agricultural pin-up girl striking a provocative pose. This is consistent with the fact that Ruth (at her mother-in-law's urging) actually entices Boaz into a proposal of marriage by lying with him at night and "uncovering his feet." The latter phrase is usually felt to be a euphemism for another organ of the body.  This view might shock some people, but it should be remembered that there is only one true hero (or heroine) in the Old Testament--God.