New Work: The Idol-maker’s Shop

I am settled into my new Bisbee studio- update photos soon to be posted- and this oil painting The Idol-maker’s Shop is the first work from my own idol-making shop.

My inspiration for this narrative painting is of the story I was told years ago, that of Abraham, the patriarch of my faith and of my Jewish brothers and sisters, that his own father was in fact an idol-maker. That has always tickled my fancy, and not only was he an idolatrous craftsman, his shop was so crammed with ungodliness that his son Abram-Abraham stormed into it, trashing the merchandise and frightening off his customers. This scene, of an infuriated Abraham , trashing the place, one stockpiled to the ceiling with false gods, delights and inspires me. I at some point hope to depict that wrathful encounter. For now, I have focused upon Terah himself.

I have sketched out this curious scenario numerous times, of Terah hard at work, only for Abraham to berate his father’s chosen profession.

“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”

Ezekiel 36:25

Idols and false gods in general fascinate me, I suppose because I have so many of my own; my own may not be crafted of wood or stone but nonetheless tangible and plentiful. I am endlessly wary of false gods yet succumb to their wiles time and again.

As I am far from a biblical student, much of my reference to Abraham’s father came from google searches and wikipedia- granted not scholarly but inspiring. Abraham’s father was Terah and the snippets of the family disfunction seems primarily a Talmudic debate.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terah

While not academic, I hope my latest painting is at least fun to look at. I certainly enjoyed coming up with various gods and idols, imagining the interior of an idol shop- what a great job for an artist, the fashioning of objects meant to be worshipped. After the trashing of Terah’s shop and the ascension of Abraham and the subsequent ban on depicting the human form , visual stimulation certainly dried up.

With all that nonsensical rambling, my painting , The Idol-maker’s Shop:

 

I will be posting images of this idol-making workshop soon, with Lent, I have been off social media, focusing on avoiding THAT particular false idol- truly it is an alluring one. But I justify my web site as not being quite social media. The justifications we make at our disordered altars.

With that, have a happy March.