"Where are you?" // Original painting on canvas, 24"x24"
Title: "Where are you?" (2022)
Medium: Acrylic ink, marble dust, acrylic, gold foil, and silver foil on canvas
Size: 24"x24"x1.5"
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About this painting:
I have always loved Job, but working on O Mirabile Mysterium, I began to see Job's life as one that is not marked by tragedy and suffering alone, but creative potential. When I read Genesis, the defining feature of the cosmos in creation does not seem to be its chaotic nature. Instead, it has creative potential in the hands of God, who is incomprehensibly skilled, loving, and wise.
In the depths of my own brokenness, I am reminded that the God of the dark chaotic wilderness makes flourishing gardens out of the raw material of hopelessness. He does the same thing for Job, who has been de-created into darkness. God is able to stand with him in that dark and instead of defending himself, he reveals the majesty of the vast wilderness of creation to show that his wisdom is the defining feature of all that was, is, and ever shall be.
In the garden, God seeks Adam and Eve in their shame by asking, "Where are you?" In his suffering, God asks Job, "Where were you?" For me, both questions are relational. We need to rightly locate ourselves in the cosmos and in relation to God. I don't think God's "Where were you?" to Job is meant to belittle him in any kind of mean-spirited way, but to remind him (albeit rather sternly) of the level of wisdom that is required to make sense of the inner workings of the macrocosmic panorama of creation and the microcosmic landscape of the human soul.
His wisdom is the source of all life, and he is capable of bringing beauty from nothingness.
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“Who is this who darkens the divine plan
By words without knowledge?
Now tighten the belt on your waist like a man,
And I shall ask you, and you inform Me!
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the measuring line over it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When it went out from the womb, bursting forth;
When I made a cloud its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling bands,
And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,
And I said, ‘As far as this point you shall come, but no farther;
And here your proud waves shall stop’?
“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And made the dawn know its place,
So that it would take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked would be shaken off from it?
It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand out like a garment.
Their light is withheld from the wicked,
And the uplifted arm is broken.
-Job 38:1-15
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ARTWORK INFORMATON
Original canvas collage painting in blues, red earth, purple, dark magenta, golds.
All artwork is signed on the back. Can be signed on the front at collector's request.
Keep in mind that paintings can look slightly different in person. I paint using a lot of texture, so they are even better when you can see them in person - it is hard to capture here!
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COPYRIGHT
Artwork is protected by copyright. All images displayed are property of Kelly Kruse. The sale of original artwork does not include the sale of copyright, including rights to reproduce or license imagery. All rights reserved.
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SHIPPING & HANDLING
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I will gladly reduce prices for combined shipping! Please contact me and let me know which paintings you want shipped together and I can give you a quote and then adjust the shipping amount on the painting listings.
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