Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper presents the projection, on screen, of a series of photographs and collages produced over the past thirty years, which comprise the visual components of my book, Christ in the Suburbs: A Jewish Artist Looks at Jesus. Biblical scholarship, specifically on the historical Jewish Jesus, is a burgeoning academic field, populated by writers and professors that have published many books on the history of First Century AD Judaism and the birth of Christianity; however, none that I know of are art books on the subject. Christ in the Suburbs takes its name from the 1920 painting by Georges Rouault. Jesus is the most recognizable figure and face in the history of Western art; yet, we know nothing of his actual physical appearance. His countenance and ministry have been imagined and reimagined for 2000+ years. The visual strategy of my book was to appropriate imagined likenesses of Jesus from reproductions of Italian and Spanish Renaissance art, and place them in contemporary suburban settings and scenarios, some humorous, others, not; some based on biblical stories; others, not. Traversing time and space, Jesus is “brought back to life” through a contemporary imagination. The book was designed by Ms. Carla Figueroa, a prominent graphic designer in Los Angeles.