What might the Twelve Apostles have looked like if Jesus had come today... not 2000 years ago?

 

Researching scant historical records, this series draws connections between the extraordinary people in my life and the ancient Apostles. Created loosely in the tradition of icon painting, each new Apostle is painted in a directly frontal, interactive pose onto a Baroque-style wooden panel. Paintings use bright red acrylic as a base colour to knit together the over-painted hues. The colour red also serves as the traditional ground for the application of gold leaf. All the images use gold in some fashion - leaf or ink - to add highlights and to contribute to the thematic message.

 

Although each subject manifests a halo, the characters are very much still 'ordinary' people, as were the original 12. Therein lies the mystery; the profane is also sacred, dust becomes man, and as we strip away false piety the Maker's glow crowns us all.