I hope the use of symbolism and variety and the sanctuary theme will serve to celebrate the Rexburg Temple in these twenty-four watercolor paintings.
Symbolic Teaching
The temple is a place of symbolic teaching. President Hinckley quotes Elder John A. Widtsoe: “We live in a world of symbols. We know nothing except by symbols. We make a few marks on a sheet of paper, and we say that they form a word that stand for love or hate or charity or God or eternity. . . .No man can come out of the temple endowed as he should be, unless he has seen beyond the symbol, the mighty realities for which the symbols stand” (8).
My paintings move beyond the literal to the symbolic in hopes that they will motivate viewers to see beyond the symbols to deeper realities. Paintings so designed strive for beauty of image and composition, but they are not content to merely present an attractive, realistic view. A painting is the artist’s response to an image or idea. I feel joy when I think of the temple. And I feel challenged when I think of the deep symbols and “mighty realities” in the temple.
I want to communicate that joy and that awe through symbolic reference to basic shapes: Circle, Square, Triangle, Golden Spiral, Eternal Grid, and Cosmic Cloud.
Variety
We are taught that heaven favors beauty and variety. I see the principles of variety working three ways in these paintings:
1. Variety of styles. These different styles stand for the varieties of responses to the temple. I want my paintings to reflect the assortment of feelings and thoughts that come to me in various ways each time I visit the temple.
2. Variety of responses. I hope viewers say of some paintings, “Isn’t that lovely,” but to others I hope they say, “What is he trying to do here?” I don’t want all viewers to look at the paintings in the same way. I hope some of the paintings will evoke immediate joy while other will elicit the long gaze and the concentrated attempt to connect and interpret.
3. Relief from Pure Realism. I have consciously sought my images to provide variety from literal, “pretty picture” portrayals of the temple. I do not object to such portrayals, but they are already plentiful. They emphasize beauty and order, and I desire to emphasize the temple as protection from the turmoil of the chaotic world, paintings unashamedly exuberant in their rejoicing, and others that emphasize the temple’s connection with eternity.
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is a sacred place. Obviously, that title is a reference to the role the temple is to play in our lives. But another meaning of “sanctuary” is a private place where one can be safe. In this sense, my paintings represent my private place of response to the temple. My paintings are my individual, personal musings on the many things the temple means to me. And I invite you to share my personal images in hopes that your own temple meditations might be the richer, that you might, perhaps, be drawn in new ways—through your own sanctuary—to the House of the Lord.
Question: Why are some of your paintings so “messy”?
Answer 1: The fallen world in which we live often appears chaotic, cluttered, and messy. The temple exists as a sanctuary from those elements. But we have been taught that we must know the bitter to know the sweet. Similarly, the “messiness” is the backdrop by which we know the order of the temple.
Answer 2: Look deeper, and see if there isn’t order in the apparent mess. The cosmic cloud, for example, may appear random in shape and color, but it is in the process of becoming—perhaps a star, perhaps a world.
Answer 3: There are happy messes and sad messes. I would like to think that if there are “messes” in these paintings, they are happy messes.
Question: What possessed you to respond to the temple in such a non-realistic, unconventional way? Shouldn’t the subject itself suggest a more reverent approach.
Answer: I believe that art should be enjoyable to make. I love the fun of splashing paint and water and salt around. Of course, it is true that the temple invites our reverent response. We attend quietly and reflectively. But it does not follow that all art should necessarily mirror that spirit exactly and literally. To be sure there are quiet, restful hymns, but some hymns are energetic, fast, and loud. I hope my paintings reflect this injunction: "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a payer of praise and thanksgiving." (Doctrine and Covenants 136:28)
Question: Why do we need images of the temple? We have the temple itself?
Answer: One might as well ask, “Why do we need hymns about Jesus; we have the Savior himself? Why do we need pictures—or even stories—of Christ; we have the Atonement itself?”
It is true that the temple is more central and important than are any images of it, and your question reminds us of that important fact that must not be forgotten. On the other hand, in our fallen world with our flawed memories and imperfect motivation, we seek reminders, ways of refreshing and re-approaching familiar topics. We must, as T. S. Eliot suggests, “redeem the time,” that is, devise ways to keep ourselves “on task.” In a world of entropy, we need to fortify ourselves against forgetfulness and distraction. In this spirit we go to Church each week and partake of the sacrament. In this spirit we have been encouraged to have pictures of the savior and the temple in our homes to remind us.
1 comment:
Bishop Samulelson! This is Adam and Kathryn Ririe! We stumbled across your blog and are fascinated by your paintings. As you can imagine, we especially love the University Village painting. Could we possibly purchase a copy of it from you?
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