Rise Up

Oil on Braced Birch 58" x 91" x 20" 2018 This painting is a sequel to the previous work Can These Bones Live? Both of them explore a visual interpretation of "The Valley of Dry Bones" from Ezekiel 37. This ancient book records the prophecies of Ezekiel to his fellow Jewish refugees, who have been taken by King Nebuchadnezzar from their homeland of Judah to Babylon [i]. In this vision are sun-bleached bones and skeletons symbolic of the Jewish exile, which according to Ezekiel happened as a result of their rebellion against the Creator. God's Spirit breathes and the bones rattle together, taking on flesh and coming back to life, a metaphor for national resurrection [ii]. It was an image of hope for the Jewish exiles who would one day return to their Promised Land. In the broader context of the whole Bible, this vision of homecoming foreshadows the promise of transformed hearts through grace, enabling the people of God to live in a new universe of justice and peace traditionally referred to as heaven. The book of Isaiah speaks of the hope of new heavens and a new earth, where: Your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise- let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy- [iii] Often heaven is visualized as an otherworldly place where nothing much happens [iv] to wispy disembodied spirits on clouds [v]. My painting is a musing on resurrection, how bodily death gives rise to bodily life-after-death. Many scholars believe our soul makes up all of who we are, including our unique personality and ethnicity, and that our eternal bodies will reflect this. In contrast with the historical propensity in Renaissance art to 'white-wash' biblical scenes, I sought to depict racially diverse figures of various ages: a young bi-racial woman, an elderly Caucasian man, and a middle-aged Indonesian lady, each ascending from rock spires on the earth. This painting is a metaphor for transcending all that is evil in our present world, including greed, self-absorption, and racism. It expresses the longing for a world set right, where harmony will reign between humans, animals, and their Creator. Species like these Monarch Butterflies, fifteen to represent the model's age, will flourish once again. The title for this painting came from the song Still Rolling Stones by Lauren Daigle, which also reflects the themes expressed in this work, most poignantly repeated in the refrain "Rise up!" [I] 597-571 BC in Tel Abib near the Kebar River (modern-day Iraq). [ii] The Hebrew word ruah can be translated as spirit, breath, or wind. [iii] Isaiah 27:19 [iv] Nathan Coley's illuminated text sculpture. [v] Plato's philosophy of higher "forms" taught that we are souls trapped in bodies.