Post-It Jesus 2.0 (March 2010)

Produced for the New Creation Arts Group's 2010 juried arts exhibit (the theme of which was "The End of Words"), this piece was originally titled "The Incarnation" but quickly received the shorthand of "Post-It Note Jesus."  Based on the standard pantokrator style of Christ icon, this piece might very well be the most interesting thing I've really done with the medium.  Aside from its clear similarities to the first Post-It Jesus, the piece also combines the block-note format of earlier mosaics with the more intricate stencil work in my more recent projects.  Even though the piece didn't win, it did help me get my name out there as an artist at Duke, and it has since been featured in Divinity magazine as well as on the promotional material for the exhibit in which it was first displayed.

Now, even though I'm trying not to write too much in this portfolio, there's a heck of a story behind this one, so I think I'll go ahead and share it . . .

I hate to admit it, but, much like the first Post-It Jesus, the initial motivation for this one had quite a bit to do with impressing a girl.  More specifically, it had to do with proving to a girl that I was more artistic than my rival for her affections.  Of course, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that God has a funny way of turning things around on us, and sometimes something that started with the worst intentions can become something holy.  I think this piece is definitely such a case.  The center panel was actually completed in one flurry of an afternoon with most of the cutting being done with scissors instead of a stenciling knife (as this panel is very much in the blocked style of the earlier pieces but considerably more abstract than most of my projects).

I decided early on to make this piece a triptych, but then I was faced with a dilemma: what should be on the two side panels?  Initially, I thought about putting in portraits of saints, but this detracted too much from the image of Christ, so for a period of weeks, I was stuck with these two massive half-completed panels sitting on either side of my imitation-icon.  Eventually, inspiration did strike, but it was in an incredibly unlikely way: food poisoning.

I ate Sitar (the campus's Indian cuisine) for lunch one day and enjoyed a delightful samosa, but within a few hours, I had an unbelievable headache and stomachache.  The world around me was getting a little blurry, and I was starting to sweat a good bit.  Even though I initially wanted to tough it out through my afternoon classes, a few friends convinced me that the smarter decision was to go home and rest; they would hand in my work and take notes for me.

After an exceedingly wobbly bus ride back to my apartment, I collapsed into bed and entered a feverish sleep, and it was in this sleep that I had a dream:

In my dream, I was sitting on the couch in my living room, and I had the side panels laid out on the coffee table in front of me.  Just like always, I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what to put on them, but then a familiar figure burst into the room.  It was none other than Doug Campbell, my New Testament professor!  Dr. Campbell had apparently ridden his bike over to my apartment as he was sweating profusely and wearing athletic attire, and he was pointing erratically at the panels and speaking enthusiastically in what sounded to me like absolute gibberish.

I'm still not sure if it was supposed to be glossolalia or just a particularly thick version of his usual New Zealand accent, but either way, I couldn't understand what he was saying.  Finally, the imaginary version of my professor gave up and started pantomiming everything for me, and I managed to wrap my mind around what he was trying to say: fill up the space in the panels with tableau scenes from the life of Christ.  Okay, that's great, Dr. Campbell, but which ones?  Look to the Gospel of John!  Huh?  What does that mean?  Oh, wait, I think I've got it!

With that, I woke up out of my dream, and even though I was still feverish and loopy and barely containing the contents of my stomach, I knew what I had to do.  I lurched for my stenciling knife and got to work.  Several hours later, I had filled my side panels with scenes of Christ's baptism, walking on water, telling parables, and the crucifixion-- all of it framed by the words "In the beginning was the Word" in Greek.

And that's the story of the second Post-It Note Jesus.  Did I win the competition?  No.  Did I get the girl?  Also no.  Did I learn a lot about myself and wind up spending a surprising amount of time nurturing my relationship with God because of this thing?  Yep.  The piece was ultimately divided between two owners with my friend Kate Flynn taking the side panels and my friend Brad Hinton taking the center image.