Feigned Authority, Ink on board, 52 cm x 73 cm, $4000
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were asked to look upon a serpent to be healed. The serpent signified Jesus Christ’s healing and life-giving powers. I choose to use this symbol of Christ in this piece, represented as a light-colored snake. In the work He is found offering the fruit of life symbolized by the Acacia bean. This fruit is appropriate because it is used in medicines to heal, same as Christ. In addition, this fruit grows on a real tree found in the Middle East appropriately nicknamed “The tree of Life” because it grows in a desert where no water is found. The tree is over 400 years old.
Satan is symbolized by the darker snake. He is shown offering a pomegranate. This symbolizes the fruit from the tree of good and evil described in the Bible’s book of Genesis, from which Eve partook in the Garden of Eden. I choose the pomegranate because it is full of sweet seeds, suggesting that he was offering to Eve the opportunity to bare children.