Pt. 3 (Final) of my thesis

by Ivan Riascos

En El Nombre de…(In Thy Name of…) Inkjet Print, 2014.

 

THE EXPERIENCE

The second body of work for my thesis exhibition celebrates a real life experience that seemed to pose the question, “Is God speaking to me?”

The experience in question happened about two years ago, when a blue notebook appeared on top of an electrical transformer in my neighborhood.  After several days of noticing the book go unmoved, my curiosity finally won and I opened the book.  I was amazed to find pages filled with color slides, with images touching on religious themes of astronomy, idolatry, creationism, morality, natural disasters, paganism, history, and religious iconography.  The slides may have been used as part of a sermon, because each page was labeled by subject matter and with a brief description in Spanish.  I began to wonder, “Is this experience directed only at me?”  I thought this because I found this notebook two houses down from my address, and because I collect things related to photography.  Furthermore, the writing throughout the notebook was in Spanish, and the majority of the enclosed images related to religion in some form.  In the past people who claim to have communicated with God typically describe their experiences as voices in their heads, some type of apparition, or something that they alone understand.  My own, strange experience could be characterized in those terms.

The sculptures Zarza Ardiente (Burning Bush), and El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window) are inspired by this experience (Figs. 11, 12).  I began to relate my experience to Moses and the Burning Bush because both of us interacted with an inanimate object that was the vehicle for communication with a higher power.  I do believe my unusual experience was addressed to me, and it became my responsibility to create artwork to share with people.

My intentions with Zarza Ardiente was to recreate a life-size, common electrical transformer that is found in the suburbs, but at the same time is an object that does not seem part of this world, to evoke a spiritual feeling, since I wanted it to coincide with my experience, and to be more spiritual than religious.  With the slides my intention was to create a vehicle that had a double function.  I wanted to simulate a stained glass window, because as a child I would sit in church looking at the beautiful colors emanating from the glass and their distorting effect upon the landscape on the other side while I wondered what was transpiring in the world.  The other function was a light box, because I wanted to emulate daylight and a light box is a tool that photographers use to view slides.

Each slide depicts an issue that troubles the world and is still connected to everyday life, but that offers no resolutions or explanations.  I titled the piece El Vitral de Pedro, because Saint Peter is the founding father of the Catholic Church.  I wondered if St. Peter could look at this window, how would he interpret these slides?  Is the subject matter of the slides a consequence of him having created God’s church?  Would St. Peter be happy, angry, or sad?  My intentions for the window were to display the slides in a grid, so that those who view it can face, as I did, the dilemma of deciphering its message.

 

Zarza Ardiente (Burning Bush) Acrylic, LED lights, and sound, 2014.

 

El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window), Lightbox, and found slides, 2014.

 

El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window), Lightbox, and found slides, 2014.

El Vitral de Pedro (Peter’s Stained Glass Window), Detail, Lightbox and found slides, 2014.

 

CONCLUSION

My spirituality developed from my experiences in Catholicism as well as nature, society, relationships, and family.  Also, by visiting museums, exhibitions and galleries, I have found ways to further reflect upon the world’s current situation.  Simply going to Mass and hearing the sermon of the week no longer mediate my view of the world.

I have learned that my artwork is working like the religious imagery that I had a hard time connecting with in the beginning, in such way that the photographs and the sculptures demonstrate my understanding of the scriptures, my faith, my culture, my time period, and my wanting to share a spiritual experience.

This self-exploration shows my struggles with my faith, whether I make light of it or at the same time hold it in high regards.  I believe in a higher power, but to say that it is definitely God, Allah, or Buddha, I cannot decide.  I struggle with the need to give it a face or a body, something that I can identify, something tangible and thus similar to the doubt that Thomas had.

 

Advertisement