The "World Wide Web" had not yet been invented when I painted this picture. I didn't have a computer, though I had played with one or two which belonged to friends. I was freezing in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was working at a New Age Christian bookstore, surrounded by people even wackier than I was. The title of this star and nebula picture is "Lights of the World," vaguely inspired by the Grateful Dead song title "Eyes of the World," and by the Christian notion that Jesus is the light of the world.
During the 1980s I made a number of not very successful attempts to paint Christian-themed space pictures. I am not sure whether I would be more successful trying it now. Can Photoshoppery and Christianity co-exist? I don't talk about my religious life much, it invites too much hostility and angry or more often condescending comments. ("Whatever turns you on, whatever makes you feel better..." etc.) Every so often I add some bit of hidden or even obvious religious symbolism into my paintings. But maybe the religious world in this Age of Fundamentalist Terror is too dangerous to explore. So it's just a picture of a nebula with stars.
"Lights of the World," acrylic on illustration board, 10" x 7", February 1988
2 comments:
Pyra: I would ignore the people that sneer at your beliefs; you have every right to believe what you believe, just as they do.
I really like this painting, by the way.
I like the painting and I will refrain from comment on the "religious" stuff as I may offend. OK, I will say this and you can take it as a joke or whatever if you wish..."the notion of Jesus as the light of the world" made me think, they need to put a new bulb in, that one is burned out! LOL
Everyone's path is different and if the one you are on is truely right for you then no one should condemn it!
Post a Comment