CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS: IN SEARCH OF THE SACRED

AND GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM...

 The Holy Scriptures. Genesis 1:27


Would the Bible have been as meaningful to Western culture, if someone, somehow, had lost a few letters (characters), here and there, before it got to us?

      St. Gregory the Great. Prague. 15th Century

If it were edited -- pruned -- along the lines of "less is more." Would that make the Bible even better? More essential? More profound?

Sarah of Glasgow. 2020. 11 x 14"

My answer is: Every letter, every word, every chapter counts. And contributes meaningfully.

  A young lady. 2019. 11 x 14"

All of us are characters in the book of life. And frankly, I think our world would be poorer without you.

Cassidy of Phoenix. 2019 11 x 14"

Whoever you are. You are essential to this moment. To this conversation. You are, in a word, sacred.

Native American Model. 2019 @ 16 x 14"

And that's what I'm trying to capture when I paint a portrait these days. Yes, I want the portrait to resemble the person portrayed. 

Blue-eyed Visionary. 2019 @ 12 x 10"

  I also want the image to feel as special, as essential as the person I have the privilege of painting.

Greg of Phoenix. 2019. 11 x 14" 

Anyway, that's the goal.

A Patriach. 2019  11 x 14" 

In the words of the Man from Mars, "Thou art God." (Stranger in a Strange Land, Robt. Heinlein)

Can you grok it?

Waiting for the Feeling. 2019  11 x 14"

Medium: Oil paint on acrylic ground. Artist: Glenn Scott Michaels. Phoenix, AZ.


Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved. Images and photographs by the author, with the exception of St. Gregoary the Great.