Title: 47 Grace 1996
Size: 48" x 60"
Description: Mixed Media Collage on canvas
Comments: This was the seventh in a series of a group of paintings I used my own face. Now that my own face was on the canvas it was if I were spilling my “guts” on the canvas so that everyone would know who I am. It was unnerving to me painting myself in the same way I painted the generic pictures from magazines. By the fifth painting I was a little more comfortable on how to alter my face. Still experimenting and stretching myself on how far I would go. Making sure that at least my eyes and mouth are still exposed and unaltered while having the freedom to do what I want with the rest of my face. This was the first large canvas I used. This time I used my own face to portray “grace”. Through all my ups and downs in my spiritual walk with God, He continues to shower me with His grace. As I look at my painting it still looks shallow with a mixture of idolatry and pride mixed in. An icon of what “grace” should look like, but not really what it truly is. In a lot of ways that is how the Christian church has been through the ages. We have poorly represented who Jesus really is like because we don’t even know ourselves who He is like.