This painting is about the LIFE of the Risen Christ. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and He is ALIVE NOW. HE HAS LIFE. JESUS ROCKS WITH LIFE. He is alive in my life. I adore Him, I love Him, I love our life together and I love rock music. Sometimes when I pray He makes me feel like I'm a guitar in His Hands. I live my life with a pain condition. I have pain every day since January 1991. The Risen Christ is the source I rely on for myself and for the others who rely on me.
In Deuteronomy Chapter 30 it says to choose life for yourself and your family by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him and holding fast to Him. Not only does that mean life to you, but also a long life.
This painting is also about love. The love relationship between God and His people. In the bible it is called a covenant. Deuteronomy Chapter 6 says to love the Lord, your God with all your mind and heart and with your entire being and with all your strength. I think that makes it individual and wide open.
Why did I paint Jesus playing air guitar?
I wanted to make a work on Christian mysticism in a way that was not mystifying and at the same time to express the joy of prayer.
Air guitar is a lot of fun.
I see the air guitarist as a living witness to the living Christ
***Nothing can stop Him in his joy – He has the vital force of life
and He is celebrating it with great passion. His feelings are so strong that He
doesn’t need a guitar to express what He feels.*** To the air guitarist and
to all those who are taking part in the air guitar playing it is just self expression and celebration.
At their Last Supper Jesus said to Thomas "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He also said in the Gospel of John Chapter 15 "I tell you this so that you may have my joy and that your joy may be complete". My painting is about the joy that can be found with Jesus, in spite of suffering. The One Who has suffered before wants to give His joy as a gift to the one who suffers now. It is also about the joy and delight that God takes in us when we choose to delight in Him. In Isaiah Chapter 42 God says 'Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight'. Psalm 37 tells us to 'Take delight in the Lord'. So if you're ever wondering how much life is in the Risen Christ and how joyful He is, just watch an air guitarist. There's an ideology that goes with air guitar playing. They play for world peace. Jesus Christ is a man of peace. He speaks words of peace and He lives for peace. He suffered to death at the hands of soldiers and He was wounded after death by a soldier's weapon.
What about the wound?
This is His air guitar.
After His Resurrection He provided evidence of who He was by showing His wounds to Thomas.
You can’t have the Risen Lord without the wounds from His crucifixion. The mysticism that surrounds them is written in Christian history. Many have had individual experience of them. He carries those wounds for us Christians and as they are part of Him, they belong to us. His Blood is the price of our
redemption. It has been called on for healing and protection for centuries. It calls us into union with Him and with each other. His wounds are
glorified. They do not make Him infirm. They are badges of honor, the proof of
His victory. He is my great and glorious King and they are the wounds of love.
My use of air guitar in the Christian context is about the uplifting of the spirit. It's a victory of the indomitable Spirit of God.
The Air Guitar's first exhibition as part of ICON: Images of the Sacred 2004 was at Katoomba Civic Centre, Katoomba NSW Australia from Fri 23/04/04 until Sun 02/05/04.
MY PRAYERS
Heavenly Father I offer You my 'Air Guitar' painting for world peace; the families who are suffering because of war & for all those who suffer pain that they may know a life through Jesus Christ and with those around them that is full of love, joy, hope and above all, peace. For those who believe there is no one who knows what they suffer may they look to Jesus, reach out and keep reaching until they find peace. Amen.
Heavenly Father, I offer you the Blood of Jesus for the members of every rock band who are influencing the lives of Your children today. Amen.
