I’ve been thinking about the wise men from the East—most scholars think they were astrologers from Iraq, or thereabouts— and how little data it took for them to get up and go to Israel to look for the King. And mounting a caravan expedition any distance in those days was a major, big deal. The prophecy in Numbers they probably acted on is oblique at best:
Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, And a scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.”
This messiah business wasn’t part of their culture or tradition. But, they were astrologers and saw something remarkable in the sky and took what they could piece together and went. And ended up with more revelation as a result.
Revelation is always partial. Nobody gets the full picture on anything. Revelation comes in layers, and following up on a little revelation seems to bring on more.
I’ve been working on a series made on gloss-primed masonite, and have been experimenting with techniques to produce tiny, consistent, opaque spatters. The droplets bead up on the gloss surface, and make a nice rich texture. The 4′x4′ square above is the proving ground, and I’m making some headway. I love the imperceptible shifts that go on within these fields— how one color will assert itself and influence the overall tone, and then another. The color field effect is very atmospheric and soothing. But then, I relax pretty easily, and teeny droplets of paint fascinate me. (I’ll have to test this on some type-A friends and see if they’re soothed too.) Plans in the works to explore this on a large scale.
But I wonder— how much or little spatter causes the viewer to see a pattern? How much revelation does it take to cause enlightenment? How much or little does it take for us to see, understand, and then act? (Musical interlude with Tracy Chapman’s song, “Change” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drXwsVYrd20)
In this work, I lightly spattered the remaining layers over a loose gridwork of ping pong balls. Here’s a close up:
Here’s the whole painting. (Pardon the bad lighting.) Is there enough here to mount a caravan expedition to Palestine?
