Jacob´s Ladder 2013 Acrylics on Canvas Format: 50x60 cm (excl. Frame) Painting and Text: Gian Merlevede |
Jacob´s Ladder
Takeaway value The Jacob´s Ladder is the kind of painting that was birthed totally intuitively. I was looking for something else really, then this visual metaphor appeared. It took me some years to accept the picture as finalised. This and that seemed unfinished. In the end, I refused to start picking and ruin delicate balances. Finally I made my peace. In this picture a celestial dimension falls from the sky, almost literally. I recall Genesis 28 in the Bible, where young Jacob has to flee after swindling his brother Esau, bereaving him of the fatherly blessing. One night on his flight, sleeping in the open, Jacob is given a visionary dream, encountering the One true God, offering Jacob, by mere grace, full protection and awesome blessing. In the dream Jacob saw a "stairway" (or "ladder") resting on the earth, with its top reaching unto heaven, and angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it, stood the Supreme One. Waking from the dream revelation Jacob reacted with a worshipping heart, saying: This is the gate of heaven! And making a vow he pledged his allegiance to the Awesome One. The central idea here, is God´s protective presence (cf. Biblical Commentary by Allen P. Ross - Bibelwissen, Hänssler Verlag). Looking at the painting it is particularly the black underpainting, that suprises me. This straight shape lashing down from the sky, its impenetrable greyish blackness... I keep musing about that. |
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