At The Whitney a week ago today, I caught one of the last days of their inaugural exhibit in their new space, “America Is Hard To See.” Above, a piece in their collection by artist Julius Bloch.
More on this chapter of the exhibit HERE.
“Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” John 21:18
It’s Sunday, not Friday, of course, but this icon didn’t happen till yesterday.
(Hint, in a great reversal–the sort of thing for which God is famous–the “Jesus” icon is representing the government, above)
Christ on the Mount of Olives, life-size sculpture in Strasbourg Cathedral, 1498
This collection of sculpture twists time, featuring a few Jesuses–here seen both kneeling at the Mount and hanging on the cross. This combination artwork of both relief and free-standing sculpture bends expectations in many arenas–time, space, sound, light. How does Jesus’ Passion bend and stretch our expectations?
Michaelangelo’s Pieta Housed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy; in Carrera marble.
Contemplate Jesus’ body, the lifelessness communicated in the marble, the way Jesus’ shoulder and its flesh yield to his mother Mary’s hand as she holds her son for the last time.
Jesus is human, suffering and obedient to the point of death, gaunt and spent in the first arms to have comforted him.
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40)
Where ever there is pain, brokenness, oppression, lack, loneliness, hunger, darkness–Jesus is there. Continue reading
