click on the image for a bigger versionI finished the painting I have been working on. A fellow blogger, Paul Nielson, made a post a while back about a painting by Warner Sallman, Christ Knocking at the Hearts Door. He didn't think it was a very good painting. Sallman actually got his idea from Holman Hunt who had done a painting The Light of the World. So I decided I would see if I could make a better painting than Sallman's. Both of these paintings and mine as well are inspired by a scripture from the book of Revelation. St. John tells of how Jesus is going to spit out those believers who are not hot or cold but are lukewarm. Then the famous passage: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
So my idea for the painting is to have Jesus knocking at the door of a house. The people in side are entertaining themselves, watching TV, exercising and listening to music but they are all doing it in isolation from each other. Did they hear the knock over the noise of their lives. Will they pause, or turn off the ipod long enough to see if there is someone at the door? The border is made up of fast food, except for the bread and wine of the eucharist on a background of lime green. Jesus also has bread and wine in his hand and is ready to share himself in the eucharist with those are are willing. Paul made the good point that this bible verse is not an evangelistic verse aimed at non-believers but at believers who have lost their first love. To this end I have included in the house two paintings, one of Warner Sallman's famous head of Jesus and the other hanging over the sofa a landscape by "Christian" artist, Thomas Kincaide, the painter of lite.
Much more of a real dynamic going on here than in Sallman's. So much here that intrigues; lots of brilliant touches, like the Kinkade painting and the Sallman's head of Jesus, and then Christ's face haloed by the window of the door - the real Christ. I like how the body and blood of Christ in the border have to be discerned out of all the junk food. And finally, I like the guy's face at the center of the composition, the way his face is half-turned but his eyes are still glued to the t.v.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen Beckmann's Family Picture?
http://www.art-quarter.com/beck/joe/dd/1/36/beckmann-family1.html
Thanks for your comments. It is nice when someone gets what you are trying to communicate.
ReplyDeleteI looked at Beckmann in grad school and like his work. That painting is very claustraphobic. What do you respond to in Beckmann?