 All Around the Carpenter's Shop © 1996 Ginger Henry Geyer glazed porcelain with platinum and gold 4 parts, 11” x 6” x 6” Adaptations of (1) Robert Campin, St. Joseph’s wing panel from the Merode Altarpiece, c. 1425, (2) a 15th c. Spanish manuscript illustration of The Holy Family in Joseph’s Workshop, (3) Rembrandt, Holy Family with Angels, 1645, (4) John Everett Millais, Christ in the Carpenter's Shop, 1849-50, (5) Holman Hunt, The Shadow of Death,1870-3. The tendency of Christians to "keep Jesus in a box" is a recurring theme in my art. Jesus as a Jack-in-the-Box is startling---for this is not Jesus. This clown has a turning head with a choice of faces; it is not so much the Trinity as three stereotypical Christ images: (1) The fierce judge, the Pantocrater, full of smite (2) the bloody, beaten to a pulp Man of Sorrows, and (3) Sweet Jesus Gentle and Mild, a blue-eyed blonde who is ineffectual and indifferent. Turn his head, cram him back into the box, and crank him up in whichever way you want him to appear...need a Jesus to damn somebody you disapprove of? Or one who will come to your self-pity party? Or one who assures you that everything is OK?  Jack-in-the-Boxes are odd toys, really. They are targeted at small children who are invariably frightened by the startling pop-up. Older kids quickly figure out how to control the crank handle, pausing ever so slowly before the tune triggers the lid. If you can control that song, you won't be so surprised by what's inside. The lyrics to the jack-in-the-box song vary. The way I knew it features a monkey chasing a weasel. Apes and baboons were greatly prized and were regularly transported to King Solomon's court. Baboons were considered sacred to the Egyptian god Thoth. Unlike these exotic monkeys, weasels were common to the Holy Land and made it onto the Leviticus list of unclean animals. So, then, do we have the sacred chasing the profane in this rhyme? And who pops out of the box but the weasel? He is posed as "Salvator Mundi", Saviour of the World, giving a goofy blessing with one hand and precariously holding onto the planet with the other. He has laid down his hammer, an obvious symbol of the Crucifixion as well as carpentry. "All Around The Carpenter's Shop" IS all around this box and on the lid, in five paintings that show various aspects of Jesus' humble upbringing. As always, he works outside the box. |