The other night I could not sleep. So I sat down and found a version of the 1911 KJV text of the book of John and put this image together using only two shades of gray and black font to achieve the image. Actual size of the print will be 20″x20″ with border around the text. Yes, I used the full text – all 21 chapters.
This idea has been floating in my mind for the last few years, but never materialized. I saw something like it once only using a generalized portrait of Christ. I wish I could remember the name of the artist so I could give credit where credit is due. I believe I saw it at Ripley’s Believe it or Not in Niagra Falls. The image of Christ in the text is from Salvador Dalí’s painting “Christ of Saint John of the Cross” which is my favorite of the crucifix paintings that I’ve seen.
John uses the idea of light and dark all throughout his gospel of Christ. I thought it would be fitting to use this image because it has a very sacrificial feel to it as if you are seeing the real pain and anguish of the cross in the lines across His back with the weight of the world upon His shoulders. Salvador Dali also did not use blood or nails in his representation of Christ instead placing him on the cross in the midst of darkness of the world. I always got the impression that Jesus’ love for us held Him there anyway.
Here is an actual size of the text in the image above. to get a feel for how readable this actually is. Click to see full size.
My plan is to print only 100 of these on a limited basis on fine glicee 300gsm bright white, matte fine art paper with handwritten signature and print number. I am still praying about what I want to price these at. I’d love to hear what you think about these in the comments below.
Note: Some interesting things happened when I put the Gospel of John in this format. For instance, the very center where I zoomed (check the full size zoom) it has the verse “The thief cometh not for to steal to kill and destroy. I am come that they may have life and that they have it more abundantly. and at Christ’s head is the passage about “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?” Also though you can’t see it in the web version, at the feet of Christ in the image, is the passage from John 13 where Jesus washes the disciples feet at the last supper. The passages about the crucifixion are completely dark.
This is amazing!
When you get it priced/ worked out, I will cross-post it at The Colorist and try to help your sales.
Let me know what you think of my Ten Theses, some time, William.