The Fredösphere

Thus we begin a series on religious art, very broadly defined.

This painting hung in my family's home for most of my growing-up years. It's not a bad painting in many ways. Click on the image to see a larger version. Look closely at how the forground objects (what there are of them) are depicted, with the paint laid on to create almost jagged edges. The whole thing certainly beats The Painter Of Light in style points. It puts me in an otherworldly mood and makes me ask: who's more real here, Jesus or those spectral shapes on the street going heedlessly about their business?

Even as a child I was amused by the artist's ideas. First, why does Jesus fade away in the lower extremities? I know the artist wanted to avoid showing him interacting with any part of the physical environment -- but in that case, does his knuckle make a noise when he knocks on the wall?

Enough with the childish nitpicking -- but what's with the knocking, anyway? That's where my confusion really originates. I could never avoid the irreverent thought that, by knocking on the U.N., Jesus is saying "hey! I'm still relevant! HEY!" Pathetic, but fortunately not what must have been intended. Still, the whole scene gives the U.N. waaaaay too much credibility. Even as a youngster I understood that the institution housed in Le Courbusier's bastard child was worthy of nothing but contempt. (I fully believe they plan to screw up the whole planet.)

The artist is Harry Anderson. A more popular work of his is called Divine Conselor. Here he seems to have slipped a bit into a more conventional look. I'm afraid his Jesus here owes way more than we would like to Jesus' Graduation Picture. What's that, you say?

Stay tuned.