Through the ages there has been so much iconography produced that it really must be considered an art form all to itself. Most recently, beginning in the mid-19th century or so, artists began shaking off some of the dogma of the church as well as some of the restrictions established by renaissance art and began making more personal and intimate images of iconographic material. These images were Christ images as opposed to images of the man Jesus. In other words artists were attempting to represent the Christ idea as opposed to a believable representation of Jesus's physical body. After all, Jesus wasn't crucified because of his awesome physique but because of his ideas. Edvard Munch is probably the artist that best typifies this for me. Christ figures show up in much of his work. They are always a single luminescent circle floating above a shining pillar of light. The figure isn't identifiable as Jesus or even a man but it is obviously a Christ figure. My Christ figure in "Icon" is much more humanoid than Munch's. Still, I'm aiming to represent an idea or a feeling, not an accurate representation of a body. While I was painting this I was continuously asking myself, "what could someone possibly be saying to shake the world at it's very foundations? Is a message of love truly so powerful?" Sadly, this photo of "Icon" is a very inaccurate representation. Please check back in a day or two and I should have a better one posted.
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