"synopsis"

after a few weeks of a rather frustrating creative block, i have finally finished my "hybrid" litho print. we were supposed to put together 2 things that didn't normally go together and make a hybrid. i spent the whole afternoon today working in the studio. that's right. a saturday. and it feels soooooo good to be done early. i'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

i call this "synopsis".

(click for full view)

in early christian art, symbols were used for each of the gospel writers. people in our present day and culture aren't too familiar with them now, and i think it may have more catholic associations, but they would have been understood by the public in renaissance times and before. the symbol for matthew (top left) was a divine man, because his gospel was about jesus' humanity. mark's was a lion because his gospel was about jesus' royal status as king. luke (bottom left) was a bull, because it focuses on jesus' sacrifice and in biblical times they sacrificed bulls or oxen. and john's was a rising eagle because it was about eternal life.

because the gospels are different accounts of the same or similar events, you can see or read them together in parallel. that's why they're called the synoptic gospels. the common understanding of the word synopsis we use now has kind of diverted from the original greek, which means "together" (syn) "seeing" (opsis). with this piece, you see the whole gospel all at once. and it's only when you understand each symbol or gospel that you can fully encounter who Jesus is and what he did for humanity.