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G425A God Being Killed By Theists And Atheists
Oil on panel
May 2012 to Dec 2018, Size 300x450mm

About this painting

Painted for a competition on the theme of religious violence. This stemmed from a few psychological elements. A stranger, K, had been emailing me at the time. Fervently religious, he had undergone a psychological trauma after his abused girlfriend ran away, was gang raped and subsequently shot herself, her body to be discovered by him. This made him doubt his belief in God. Soon later, he was converted by Jehovah's Witnesses. Before then he was a pharmacology student. He made arguments attacking evolution. As an atheist, I understood the need for religious beliefs and so did not oppose them, or in his case wish to counter his arguments. I reasoned that he probably benefitted from his belief and did not want to interfere. I also felt, at the time, anguish over the potential death of a dear friend.

This, and the story from K coalesced into my mind, and musing upon the religious violence theme, the idea sprang into my head. It was a scene of God dying, in the sky, made of clouds and screaming. He was flanked on the left by corrupt bishops (originally with evil or demonic forms too, inspired by the sinister look of the Velázquez' Pope Innocent painting), and on the right a monkey to represent atheism and Darwinism. Both confronting each other, in mental battle. I added a chessboard, the perfect game to add. I felt that the horrible truth about the universe is that there is no God, and at times of real crisis this is apparent and beyond apparent, the bleakness of the universe is thrust into your heart like a dagger, a cruciform dagger, and it hurts. This is the crux (if you pardon the allusion) of the idea.

Most of the composition was unconscious, and I find it fascinating to discover new things in it. The cross, on the horizon can represent the Crucifixion, or a mere gravestone, depending on viewpoint.

Technical details

I created two complex frames. Initially, a lighter frame of wood, plaster and gold paint. This was complete in 2013. In 2017 I decided to create a new frame, more sturdy but also a stronger compliment to the image. The frame is a solid wood core, with epoxy clay modelling applied section by section, object my object. The chess pieces and other sculptural elements were cast from real chess pieces using silicone rubber, the wet clay then manipulated into place while setting. The frame is gilded with imitation gold leaf to give it a very bright and reflective finish (I normally gild in real gold, this is a rare example of a work which uses imitation leaf). The result is something not fully religious itself too, something somewhat scientific.

God Being Killed By Theists And Atheists (Original)
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