The Glorious Mysteries: The Resurrection
Oil on cradled canvas
6' x 4.5'
January 3 - 28, 2021
An angel informs Mary of Magdala that Christ is risen. Mary goes to the risen Christ, who admonishes her not to touch him because he has not yet gone to the Father.
In this painting I used Leonardo Da Vinci's illustration of the architect Vitruvius' perfect proportions of man for the figure of Christ. No human being in this world conforms to those proportions, but I used the illustration to indicate that we resurrect in perfect bodies before ascending to heaven. Until we ascend, perfection cannot be touched by imperfection. I retained Da Vinci's double image to indicate that the enlightened Ego and the grounded Shadow resurrect together as one, complete, spiritual component.
It can be said that this painting is really about Mary of Magdala. Christ's and the angel's eyes are fixed on her. Her identity covered by a cloak, she represents every woman (and every man) who is, in a manner of speaking, being "left behind".
Composition-wise the Shadow Christ's legs connect the figure of Christ to Mary on the left and to the angel on the right. Mary and the angel, on the other hand, are connected to each other by Christ's discarded shroud, which the angel has only begun folding on top of the niches. This triad of relationships forms an (invisible) isosceles triangle below the circle and the square. There are, of course, four more invisible isosceles triangles: those formed by visualizing straight lines crossing from the corners of the square, their common apex being the midpoint, which is the penis of the figure as in Da Vinci's illustration.
While the central figure is the risen Christ looming larger than life (proportioned to eight heads) in comparison with the figures of Mary and the angel (both proportioned to seven heads), the leitmotif of the painting is everyone's hands. The Shadow Christ's hands are outstretched to remind us of the Crucifixion in the immediate past. The risen Christ's hands are raised like the wings of a phoenix rising from the blazing sun. It is also the same, bright sun that seems to prevent Mary's hand from touching Christ. The angel's hands are clasped beneath the shroud, indicating that he is unable to approach Mary and console her.
I used five kinds of blue in this painting: phthalo, cyan, and turquoise for the sections inside and outside the circle and the square, cerulean for Christ's loincloth and shroud and the angel's wings, and Prussian for the interior of the empty niche.
The pandemic is still on and I continue to refuse to admit outsiders and models into my studio. Jazz sat for the figure of Christ, Angelique, for the figure of Mary. The angel is Joseph Schwarzkopf, a Thai seminarian who completed his theological studies at Maryhill School of Theology. Years ago, before he departed for Thailand, we would meet for lunch at Araneta Center, where we discussed Thai names and words and, believe it or not, kuman thong (of which I have seven), sak yant, and Thai magic. I was already initiated into Haring Bakal in Santander, Cebu, at the time, and I saw many parallelisms between Haring Bakal and Thai sak yant. I once took reference photos of Joseph and promised to make him the angel of the Resurrection someday. Joseph was fully clothed when I took photos of him; we were, after all, inside a restaurant.
Here is the painting, and I have kept my promise to Joseph.
The auditory stimulus I used while making this painting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4HI1_LTWIk. Do listen to it while viewing the painting.
In another context, this song is also for all the Facebook Friends I unFriended. Forgive me, but my objective is to end up with only 500 or 200 interactive Friends I intend to be with through my old age. Please listen to it while watching the video. In my personal life I've resurrected as a different person and a different artist. I am no longer whom you remember me as, but, since I've unFriended you, that is for me to know and for you to find out.