"Credo: Et Crucifixus"
from Bach's Mass in B Minor
36" x 24"
In this second painting interpreting Bach's B Minor Mass, we turn from the Kyrie and Gloria to a more somber note. The music of Et Crucifixus immediately made me think of Jesus' plodding footsteps carrying the weight of the instrument that would kill him to the place of his death. Have you felt the weight of sorrow, of pain, of the evil that pervades this earth? Bach captures that heaviness with notes that sound like a heart beat or the pounding of nails. In this painting, I tried to capture the feeling of that heaviness, and the repetition of awful events like these throughout history. Are we destined to repeat hatred and injustice? No, I say with the bright yellow entering our darkness. This light sweeps in an arc suggesting the movement of God, along with the two other circles, Jesus' death on the cross and God's Spirit, who moves in and through us, who is our Advocate. Death will not win the day.
You, too, can see a video montage of each of these paintings while listening to the music that inspired it. It is very meditative. I hope the color, texture and movement carry you more deeply into the music. See the tab above "Interpreting Bach's Mass in B Minor" and the four sub-tabs beneath.
You, too, can see a video montage of each of these paintings while listening to the music that inspired it. It is very meditative. I hope the color, texture and movement carry you more deeply into the music. See the tab above "Interpreting Bach's Mass in B Minor" and the four sub-tabs beneath.