Italy in the Abstract |
How many versions of “The Annunciation” have been painted throughout history?
During a late 2008 trip to Italy I began paying attention to the astounding number of paintings which depict this critical moment in the history of Christianity - when the Angel Gabriel visits Mary with his important message, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God.
I wanted to carry the notion forward into my own painting life, and found the concept asserting itself in my artistic representations of my experience.
Spiritual and philosophical questions have also surfaced as I have worked. I find the poet John Burnside expressing what, for me, makes the concept of The Annunciation so exquisitely relevant in contemporary life.
He said this in an interview about his own poem titled: Annunciation with Zero Point Field ~
'For me the emblematic element in the Annunciation paintings or Annunciation story is one of something divine confronting the soul and making a demand of the soul and throughout our lives we are faced with moments when, if we are receptive enough, we could find out something new about the way to live.'
