Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter Morning by He Qi

Easter Morning by He Qi

The following description is from "Bible Paintings: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ" at www.jesus-story.net:

He Qi is one of the most popular modern painters of religious themes. Here a triumphant angel announces that Christ has risen, conquering the demons of darkness who now flee from him. The women have not yet woken properly, and seem unaware of what has happened. They still mourn, but the angel is telling them that the time for grief is over.  Instead of the unfurled military-style banner often held by Christ in earlier paintings, He Qi's angel carries a luminous lily, sign of purity and peace.

Rev. Travis J. Scholl, editor of Concordia Journal, writes:

The more one encounters He Qi’s art, the more one encounters the creative tension between the vernacular and the universal, the local and the global, what Robert Brusic calls the “synthesis between artistic indigenization and proclamation.” He Qi’s pictorial vocabulary is thoroughly Chinese, but the message is nothing less than the Gospel itself. Again, Brusic: 
He Qi presents us with art that connects us to the biblical story in a fresh, even a surprising, way. He is both storyteller and evangelist in his art. He is not only preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but he is also conveying a message that transcends cultural types. In seeking to de-westernize the Christian story, he is trying to open our eyes to the universal implications of the larger and all-encompassing narrative of God’s love for all creation. (Arts: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies 9:3 (1997), p. 10) 

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