9/11 The Deposition

24 x 48 inches
mixed media on panel
4500.

This painting began in 2003 after the tragedy of 9/11. The photograph of the firefighters carrying out their chaplain reminded me of a modern pieta, It also brought to mind Carravaggio’s Deposition of Christ. I attached a black and white copy of Carravaggio’s painting to the top half of this piece. On the lower portion,  I drew the figures of the firefighters, an earthly metaphor for a heavenly reality.

At the top of The Deposition are the words taken from Revelation 3:14ff  I counsel you to buy from Me, gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see,” written to the last church of Laodicea. It is a call to repentance.

In the center are pages torn from Isaiah 42: 18 ff “Hear you deaf, and look you blind that you may see.”
Painted over 20 years ago, this seems ironically relevant as hidden conspiracy comes to light. ” Have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known,” Matthew 10;26.

I recently added the white ladder connecting “heaven” -where the Word of God opens like wings, to the red bloodied “earth” of 9/11 below. This “fireman’s” ladder symbolizes the connection between heaven and earth.