The many faces of Jesus
In the world of Western spirituality Jesus is an enigmatic figure, a force to be reckoned with. A prophet, the one labeled as the messiah, a miracle worker, a rabbi and a teacher. All of the labels form the well-known faces of Jesus. For many people Jesus is the messiah, the God who walked the earth in those days. The one they keep close to their heart and closer to the way they live. For them Jesus is king, savior and the light brought onto this world.
But Jesus is more than what believers say. There is the historical Jesus, the man that actually walked the earth. Then there is the Jesus of the bible, the one people believe in. And let’s not forget the many gospels not included in the bible. Those that depict a different Jesus, a more gnostic figure and less a ‘son of God’.
And even in these stories and forms of Jesus there can be other images of those faces to be found. Like all of us, Jesus was human. A man with faith, flaws and wishes. A person with a mission and above all a figure risen to the status of a deity, a God. And it is time to put faces on all these images.
The faces
Within Western Christianity the face of Jesus is that of a white man. Long hair and wearing a tunic or robe. Western Europeans could relate to this Jesus. This was their man, their God. Their white man who looked just like them. Therefore the face to work with is that of a white man, the white man that people decided that Jesus looks like.
Printed on paper somewhere in the ’60s or ’70s in a small quantity they came to me more recently. It was like they asked me to be the bearer of the other faces. Set aside the strange request to be made to a non-believer in the Christian faith, I took on the challenge. What would Jesus look like in different forms, shapes and the flood of possibilities? Something I could not refuse, something I also wanted to know.
This series will be all drawn on vintage prints of the face of Jesus. Every piece will be made intuitively, as I ask the face what it wants to look like. Which face is hidden behind the face that is already there. Some will have historical references, others will bear a metaphysical presence, but all will be one of the many faces of Jesus.
/new works added regularly
