THE BODY BROKEN

Annunciation (Detail)

“Body Broken” (Corpo Spezzato) was a touring exhibition of large figurative pieces created to commemorate great saints or witnesses of the Christian tradition––figures like Perpetua, St. Christopher, St. Katherine of Egypt, as well as modern martyrs like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I attempted in this series to articulate an elegiac sense of time and space and color––with a view to expressing something of the ineffable quality of lives that are laid down voluntarily as a witness to deep religious conviction. Beyond this, I was also trying to communicate the light and color and texture of my many sojourns in Italy, in particular Umbria and the beautiful hills and architecture of Orvieto.

“Body Broken” (Corpo Spezzato) was a touring exhibition of large figurative pieces created to commemorate great saints or witnesses of the Christian tradition––figures like Perpetua, St. Christopher, St. Katherine of Egypt, as well as modern martyrs like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I attempted in this series to articulate an elegiac sense of time and space and color––with a view to expressing something of the ineffable quality of lives that are laid down voluntarily as a witness to deep religious conviction. Beyond this, I was also trying to communicate the light and color and texture of my many sojourns in Italy, in particular Umbria and the beautiful hills and architecture of Orvieto.

“Body Broken” (Corpo Spezzato) was a touring exhibition of large figurative pieces created to commemorate great saints or witnesses of the Christian tradition––figures like Perpetua, St. Christopher, St. Katherine of Egypt, as well as modern martyrs like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I attempted in this series to articulate an elegiac sense of time and space and color––with a view to expressing something of the ineffable quality of lives that are laid down voluntarily as a witness to deep religious conviction. Beyond this, I was also trying to communicate the light and color and texture of my many sojourns in Italy, in particular Umbria and the beautiful hills and architecture of Orvieto.

Elegy For Bonhoeffer
2002, oil on wood with gold leaf; 72″ x 48″,
collection of Messiah College

Elegy for St. Sebastian
2004, oil on canvas with gold-leafed wood; 56″ x 36″,
available

Elegy for Therese of Liseux
2005, oil on wood; 72″ x 48″,
private collection

Elegy for St. Catherine
2004, oil on canvas with gold-leafed wood; 56″ x 36″,
private collection

Passion of St. Sebastian
2004, oil on canvas with gold-leafed wood; 56″ x 36″,
private collection

With His Stripes, 1997

Encaustic on wood; 36″ x 24″

Collection of Sandra and Robert Bowden