“These mixed media works are executed in gouache, ink and textured papers.
The circumstances of these people all have one common thread. They were in desperate need of hope during extremely difficult times.
Artistically, the task is to translate their reactions at the very moment their hope arrives.
There are many historical accounts of people in hardship and of the noble souls who met their needs. Countless more that history never heard of and there are also some we may know from our own experiences.
I chose 1st Century Rome as the backdrop for these pieces.
The historian, Flavius Josephus recorded the hostility that surrounded the people of the times in his writings. He also mentions Jesus of Nazareth in a few particular accounts.
Many scholars agree on at least one of Josephus’ accounts attributing to a historical Jesus, which happened to also include John the Baptist.
For these particular works, I found that Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament was an individual who encountered many hopeless and desperate people in extremely oppressive times.
These works are about those particular people and their experiences, and in a way about others like them who have found hope from a total stranger.
The Gospel accounts give enough details about each one of these people.
Was despair overcoming them?
Were they experiencing a deep sense of alienation?
Did they completely abandon the idea of help or hope from another person?
What about their struggles, their sufferings, their unanswered questions?
Their abandonment of any deliverance or reprieve and their longing for some individual peace.
All of these people had experienced one or more of these afflictions.
How would they even look and react when that help and hope finally came around?”
Caring
“Arise, take up Thy Bed, and Walk.” 2022
Sacrifice
Simon of Cyrene Bearing Jesus’s Cross 81st Audubon Artists Exhibition, 2023 Online
Compassion
“Go wash in the pool of Siloam.” 81st Audubon Artists Exhibition, 2022 Online
Fulfillment
“The woman said, …When Messiah comes he will tell us all things.” “Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.” 2024
Mourning
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking.” 2023
Sympathy
“And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed, and said unto the man, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, Be opened.” 2024