A Handful of Saints
Attached is a series of depictions of 5 Christian Saints I’ve done over the past year or so.
Alongside my work as a visual artist, I teach art to recovering and homeless people in Miami and decided to present hypothetical homeless people in Miami citiscape scenes that I had photographed, as various saints, (with myself as model). I learned about the saints a bit as a kid, and later as subjects in Renaissance painting, which I’ve never stopped loving.
The first was St Lazarus who’s very big in the Caribbean Basin among Christians and Santeros, so he’s a very familiar figure here in Miami.
Saint Lazarus; Hand-colored photo collage 24"w x30"h 2022
My next was Saint John Baptist who appealed to me as a kind of sacred trendsetter, paving the way for the the Coming of ‘The Redeemer’. Baptizing himself in a puddle under the elevated highway, I-95.
Saint John Baptist, Hand-colored photo , 2023, 20" x 20"
Next came Saint Matthew who I didn’t know much about but since my middle name is Matthew, and I was told he’d followed Jesus, because Jesus just said to him in passing, ‘Come Follow Me’. Later I read some of his writings and understood why earlier portraits sometimes depicted him writing, with an angel whispering in his ear (presumably, him what to write).
Then I decided to depict Saint Francis preaching to the Birds, somewhat after a little tourist shop copy of Giotto’s famous fresco that wound up on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. Giotto’s a hard act to follow but at least I was doing a contemporary version; (with pigeons).
The last was Mary Magdalene who isn’t really, technically, a saint , so I sort of canonized her on my own, and proceeded to depict her on Easter morning with Jesus appearing to her; an event that seems to speak for itself in terms of her importance and spiritual significance in these old stories.
I really enjoyed this dialogue with artists from my favorite art period,and the area where I now work here in Miami and will be doing more of them.
I m working on one depicting the sacrifice of Abraham of Isaac, and also one of Michelangelo defeating Lucifer.
These old stories have survived a long time, and seem somewhat substantial in our unanchored age.
David Rohn
