For All Who Proclaim the Gospel and All Who Seek the Truth

 

For All Who Proclaim the Gospel and All Who Seek the Truth.   30x40 paint and ink on canvas T. Jutsum 2023

Artists’ statement:

This painting simultaneously sprang fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus and yet also had to be, as Michelangelo put it, chipped out of the marble. 

This is a simple work; simple in form, but dense in meaning. The impetus of the work is to convey depth without utilizing complex perspective. I want the imagery to be instantly recognizable, but the symbolism to be thought provoking. I want this work to function as belonging to a space, but not of that space. I want this work to be refreshing when the viewer only has the time to walk past it casually, but also dense enough that one can sit with it and get lost in the detail of the brushwork. 

The title of this work is from the Prayers of the People, Form VI, BCP page 392. This is the default Form used in the Wednesday Eucharist service by my home Parrish of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, PA. I had been meditating on the themes and intentions of this project in the morning, taking a break to attend mass. During the service, the puzzle pieces of the work all came together and I was inspired by the Spirit that this was the title of the piece. 

The subject of the work is fourfold: 

1. The Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes in particular. Walking into the wilderness with Christ to find peace.

2. Christ as the Light of the World in a normal human body. The light that leads us by day and the fire that protects us by night.

3. Red sky: Red is a color held sacred by many cultures around the world, not least of which the indigenous peoples of the Eastern United States, where both I, and this painting reside. Christ also described red skies as having different meanings in different contexts. In a painted work, it is difficult to identify whether you are perceiving a sunrise or a sunset. That is in the perspective of the viewer, which leads to part four:

4. The unity of humanity as one family. The possibility that the rich variety of human skin tones does not at all function as a rainbow with distinct colors forming a complete whole, but rather as a continuum in which the subtle shades melt into each other.  A sunrise or a sunset. We are all God’s children. We cover the globe from below as the sky covers us from above. To try and single-out and define our differences is ridiculous and irrelevant; the very height of fallenness. To admit our unity is to state the obvious. Like the sky, we can be considered a single whole made up of individual molecules. It seems almost unnatural to think of the sky as the molecules. Rather, we naturally perceive it as a unity. May we also perceive our sisters and brothers in unity with ourselves. 

I spend a lot of time out doors, looking at the sky. There is a point everyday when observing the sky feels like seeing a painting composed in real time by God. I bring this sky as a humble offering.