![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e7241cedbbb043af8ee4663/1584555735220-8MI3MXZLD0NX9DGFF5LL/DSC_0556.jpg)
The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
Movements I & II
Virtual Tour
Abram & Madeline Johnson
Movement I
The Sickness Unto Death
Abram Johnson
Behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart
and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
(Isaiah 65:14)
Over the last couple of years, one of the recurring themes in my own thought is the reality of existential despair as it is experienced universally by all human beings. At its core, despair finds its substance, root, and constant cause as separation from God the Creator, and finds its origin in the sin of Adam and Eve which resulted in their exile from him. It can only be found in a world of pain, loneliness, and death, a world where existence is necessarily impermanent as a result of the fall. It wouldn’t be proper to call this series of pieces a culmination of my meditations, but rather an expression of them, arising from the intense feelings and urgency that such a terrible subject invokes.
The medium of most of these pieces is a mode of digital art known as “glitch art.” Glitch art differs from other digital mediums in that the key step of the creative process is an intentional and manual manipulation in the code of an image file, altering it irreversibly and producing a dramatically different result. Because of this, many examples of glitch art have distinct, linear features and repetitions that remind the viewer of a computer screen. This medium was chosen for these pieces for this reason; it reminds the viewer of the harsh, cold realities of despair, while also demonstrating the fragility of manmade systems.
One might notice that overall there is seemingly a lack of redemption in the first movement of this show. The cure for the “sickness unto death” may be found only in the arms of Christ himself~ this theme will arise in Movement II.
“The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the beast; to be sharply observant of this sickness constitutes the Christian’s advantage over the natural man; to be healed of this sickness is the Christian’s bliss.” ~Søren Kierkegaard
Nostalgia Postlapsaria: The Dead Sea
Do you remember what you were made for?
Do you remember what home was like?
This won’t do, not for you.
“Sampled” pieces: Benjamin Beck- Adam (2014) and Eve (2014)
This video installation consisted of this video clip being played on a loop, projected on the wall with a retro Dell computer monitor playing the same clip synchronously in front of it.
Around 2:55 some on-screen text appears; it translates to “Are you happy?”
Nostalgia Postlapsaria:
The Tarnished Image of God
Do you remember who you are?
Do you remember what you were supposed to do?
You were there.
You’re gonna carry that weight.
“Sampled” piece: Andres Serrano- Piss Christ (1987)
16 x 20 on metallic paper, matted & framed - sold
Kindness as Unkindness
(Asuka Langley Soryu)
Do you feel accepted?
Do you feel kindness?
Do you feel loved?
Did you ever try to truly understand her?
8 x 10 on metallic paper, matted & framed - sold
A Scene from the Vestibule of Hell
The Lord says: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
“Speak not of them, but look, and pass them by.” ~Dante Aligeheri, Canto III of “The Inferno”
(Choose wisely.)
9 x 6 on metallic paper, matted & framed - sold
It’s All a Dream
Are you living in the real world?
Does the environment that you exist in truly exist, or is it a facade that you’ve constructed for yourself?
Maybe when we die, we’ll be truly awake.
2.5 x 3.5 on metallic paper, matted & framed.
The Creator/Creature Distinction
If your family were to vanish;
If all your friends were to abandon you;
If everything valuable in your life were to disappear over the horizon as Lady Fortune continues to spin her wheel;
Why would you continue to exist?
20 x 30 on metallic paper, matted & framed.
I am like the center of a circle, equidistant from all points on the circumference,
but you are not.
~The Lord “Love,” foreshadowing the death of Beatrice
Dante Aligheri, Vita Nuova
Komm, süsser Tod
“No one can justify their existence by linking their happiest moments into some kind of rosary… in particular, (you) cannot.”
~Subconscious of Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
5 x 7 on metallic paper, matted & framed.
Fear and Trembling
If there were no eternal consciousness in a man, if at the bottom of everything there were only a wild ferment, a power that twisting in dark passions produced everything great or inconsequential; if an unfathomable, insatiable emptiness lay hid beneath everything, what would life be but despair?
~Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
20 x 30 on metallic paper, matted & framed - sold
Tie Me Up!
Tell me, are you free? In word or thought or deed?
Is the freedom you fast to real, or is it a fabrication used to hide the chains that bind you?
Have you considered that the truth you take for granted could be a lie?
8 x 10 on metallic paper, matted & framed - sold
Untie Me!
What lies bind your mind and heart?
When you ask questions regarding the truth, do only liars answer?
If only you had somebody trustworthy to teach you what is really real.
The truth shall set you free.
8 x 10 on metallic paper, matted & framed - sold
But you untied me…
Didn’t You untie me, Lord?
And I haven’t even thought about killing myself
In almost (five years)
mewithoutYou, “Tie Me Up! Untie Me!” from Catch for Us the Foxes
All Your Friends Are Gone
There is a moment in the life of every man and woman, when all lies, facades, defenses, and excuses are stripped away. On that day, your friends will be gone, as well as your family, your job, your church. Your money will be no help, and your assets will be a burden. In that moment, before the face of God,
what will you do?
“Sampled” piece:
Gustav Dore- Dante and Beatrice viewing the Celestial Rose
(from The Divine Comedy) (c. 1868)
20 x 30 on metallic paper, matted & framed.
Movement II
THE
REVELATION
TO JOHN
By Madeline Johnson
Take comfort dear one, for one day, through faith, we will dwell with God. This is the promise and glory that he gives us. “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak this make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (Hebrews 11: 13-16).
Revelation is filled with descriptions of bright colors. These finger paintings are created with those colors in mind by using flowers. Flowers are used to represent those found in the Garden of Eden. Eden was created for us by God because of his love for us. After the fall, God sent his son to mend the brokenness and because of Christ, God promises us the new heavens and the new earth. “Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). As you are taken through revelation, be reminded of his glory and love for us.
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1: 1-3).
Accompanying this movement with a Bible is recommended.
He is Coming With the Clouds
Revelation 1:7 & 8
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
The Seven Golden Lampstands
Revelation 1:10 - 13
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
His Head, Hair, and Eyes
Revelation 1:14
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
His Voice
Revelation 1:15
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
His Countenance
Revelation 1:16
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
The Seven Churches
Revelation 2 - 3:22
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
The Throne
Revelation 4:1 - 3
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
Twenty-Four Elders
Revelation 4:4
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
Seven Lamps of Fire
Revelation 4:5
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
Creatures of Heaven
Revelation 4:6 - 11
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
The Scroll
Revelation 5
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
The First Six Seals
Revelation 6
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
Multitude Before the Lamb
Revelation 7
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
The Seventh Seal
Revelation 8:1 - 6
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
The Trumpets
Revelation 8:7 - 11:19
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
The Beasts
Revelation 12 - 13
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
The Reaping
Revelation 14
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
Bowl Judgments
Revelation 15 - 17
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas
Babylon’s Fall
Revelation 18 - 20
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas with beads and epoxy
All Things Made New
Revelation 21
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
River of Life
Revelation 22
4 x 4 acrylic on canvas - sold
The Curtain
Installation Piece
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more
as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:19-25
~fin.