Finished this piece recently, part of work for an upcoming small show, more of an arts and craft fair. It is a concept I happened upon while making a gift for my brother in law for Christmas. I wrote about the small jar filled with grass and a cutout of a phrenology head drawing,
“The first little jar has the phrenology head you like, sorry I don’t have a spare one I can part with right now, but if I did, you would have it. But the image is powerful to me because it is a great example of humanity’s attempts to understand ourselves, our behaviors and our souls. It is a scientific attempt but it ultimately fails. The jar contains withered grass and a pinch of dust; both from a graveyard, reminders of our mortality and that there is a terminal limit on searching for self knowledge.”
I had not set out to demonstrate anything really, just wanted to incorporate in a small place, the phrenology head image and had learned it’s background as an example of 19th century pseudoscience (however self serving that term is for the modern science establishment) and it’s ernest but misguided attempt to understand ourselves. But the piece came together and I was very happy with it. But the image has stuck with me and I have made a few small pieces like it.
I assembled this piece and love it’s simplicity.
I heard also last week of a a man I know of, a young man with a wife and small child and a promising start as a filmmaker, diagnosed with cancer.
It stops me in my tracks and I have been moved to pray for him and he has been on my thoughts through this week.
It seems wrong to make art that seems playful about the idea about our own mortality but it also does focus our attention to the truth that we are mere vapors, our lives short and unpredictable, this man and his family have laid hold of this truth and have come out with the greatest treasure, resting in Christ for their lives and sharing that hope with all they know.
So while it gave me pause to be making this kind of art I take courage that it’s ultimate aim is to point to our need to be prepared for eternity and trust in Christ
