FROM THE TEMPTATION OF EVE – Michelangelo and Leather Art
$120 – $25,000
FROM THE TEMPTATION OF EVE TO THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE Michelangelo Leather Art
For interested buyers, don’t hesitate to ask at this link for a “First in first serve” acquisition of the framed original or number 1 of 15 limited edition acrylic enhanced reproductions.
ALLEGORY
Honor is hard to find
Culture may view
Through eyes of lust
Political correctness
Primal hunger born so blind
To be naked or not
In private or public
Ignorance
Lost its trust
Mankind
We search
And seek
In religious fair
The missing link
For those who care
Cultural hunger
Cries out loud
In you I want
Your pearl
I’m not so proud
I need
To be found
Find me
I want to be
Crowned
Save me
From me
Wash me
From the snake
I unfurl
Your great sacrifice
Became my pearl
THE STORY
Inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel art in Italy and the Bible story of Jesus Christ’s life journey this leather carving became my storyboard. I started the original project (leather mounted on hardboard and shaped) around 1982. The leather was untouched for 32 years. Spiders and dust mites considered it a safe place to live.
The 1982 vision was rekindled and tooled in 2014. My observations of this story were changing and I became humbled to see that without a belief we have no anchor in life. Reading the Christian Bible, researching Michelangelo’s works, the birds, and the cultural voices of nations soaked up many hours of meditation. I saw a wonderful thread of similarity in our common want to discover in colorful displays through fashion, art, music, and architecture.
We all dream to live a vibrant life, with the overarching link of oneness in international unity, love, kindness, understanding, respect, and purpose. At the root, we are all seeking the missing link, a key to building bridges across walls of division. This Michelangelo Leather Artwork is really Jesus’ story.
The journey
For the project, I prayerfully studied some of Michelangelo’s and Dali’s works leaving me impressed with their workload, versatility, and worldviews. I had visited Dali’s exhibition in Melbourne, Australia in 2009 and his flexibility as an artist challenged me to live my dream. My challenge was to draw on skills and disciplines learned to date because I wanted to produce like these heroes. The goal, follow in the footsteps of these giants of the art world and this carving planted the seed. The work heralded a breakthrough for me in more ways than one. Carving and beveling were physically demanding challenges with attention to detail. My much older, fingers were in a regular state of distress from overuse. Now that I know about RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) I could take more discerning rests in the production.
I am indebted to their legacy and God for such an opportunity. Due to His guidance and inspiration, this was a second chance to discover what I might be capable of. Who knows what my contribution will leave?
This work is a very poor depiction of His glory. I have done my best to symbolically include the nations and cultures of the earth in as many varieties as limited time and material allow. Within this parable is the mystery of His love and the amazing diversity of creative goodness.
The freedom from ignorance and spiritual art
The “Temptation of Eve & The Pearl of Great Price” is a spiritual art. It is much about where it all began, the first lie and deception, the subjugation to an evil spirit, and humanities search through history to find the missing link. We lost our peace, knowledge of our beginnings, and our security. As orphaned spirits, our separation has subjected us to darkness. This work depicts a search for our way back to God.
In Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the embedded story is about the need to know someone, who can wash us and teach us to wash the impurities we defaulted to. The mystery of darkness hampers our wants to love cleanly, live happily without fear, trust our neighbor, know who God is and play honestly. Jesus revealed this. Without love, without mercy, without forgiveness, we all suffer the same consequences of wars, hatred, jealousy, fears, prejudices, famines, the bitterness of spirit, depression, and prideful arrogance and yet we all want peace, purpose, and fulfillment for our inheritance.
I discovered in this story looking past the religious Christianity, in fact, all religion, into the heart of a man called Jesus was the key to freedom from ignorance. The key to the Kingdom of Heaven within the temple was available to all who sincerely searched. Our body and personhood within the body are made in the image and likeness of God who gave us life. Body, soul, and spirit. Our body is a vehicle that carries our spirit which has a link to the supernatural world which Jesus revealed while He lived on earth.
Indigenous representation
Represented in wildlife and the cultural dress is, Australasia, The Pacific, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and The Middle and the Far East. We are all in this together. We need to be washed from our bitterness, fears, skepticism, and prejudices. That is if we are to find the love, peace, and mercy we want on this planet. God has given this world to us to have wise and caring dominion over and He has given us the manufacturer’s instruction book. It works if we care to apply and agree with the mysteries He says is the road map to life.
There is something in our collective, deeply shamed conscience that perversely corrupts our sexual differences. No culture has escaped the perversion. God said what He made was all good. He loved and enjoyed what He made to be good. What has gone wrong?
A peculiar observation about religious beliefs and sex!
Have you ever wondered about Michelangelo’s art in the magnificent Catholic Cathedral in Rome? This bastion of one stream of Christian religious thought has such strong opinions about the human body functions and the sanctity of male and female sexuality. The artworks display the sacred genitals in the art for all to see. I get it! Michelangelo’s art purposefully edifies the wonder and glory in God’s creation. I am confused! A good part of any religious community (Christian or not) is ashamed to talk about sexual pleasures as a God-given joy and wonder. Why is a religious shrine a canvas for nakedness?
Why, I asked, do we have to cover up our nakedness on the streets because we are ashamed of our body’s functions. This seems to me to be a contradiction to the theology displaying penises and breasts in a religious setting. That’s why my work has the option of fig leaves to hide Adam’s penis and Eves’ breasts.
Figleaves, the guardians of modesty
To the pure all things are pure, to the perverse all things are perverse.
Your choice is to attach or un-attach the leaves according to your philosophical persuasion.
Whatever, I know when God made male as a seed bearer with a penis and seed sacks and made female man with a womb and breasts. She was to be a mother and incubator of our progeny. God delighted in mankind as He made it.
So happy was He that He gave us His instructions on how best to live in our differences to compliment, love, and function together as one. Genitals are part of the wonder. Can we see private parts in the way they were created? Purely. How do we not see the perverse and shame we have inherited?
Only the manufacturer can give that revelation to our hearts.
And what of the Seagull you might ask!
He’s having a wash. If he didn’t he would not be as effective in his flight paths and be less functional in his purpose. All of humanity, all of life under the sun needs a wash and cleansing from the dregs of daily life, whether it be dirt, disease, bugs, nits, mechanical wear and tear and attitudes of the mind. Everything needs cleansing from what stops full functionality and efficient purpose, including body odor. It doesn’t need to be an offense.
This is part of the mystery. A world separated from its original foundation is in trouble. Washing is a normal part of fully functioning as purposeful beings in body, soul, and spirit.
How do we wash away our ignorance?
How do we wash from what we dislike about the world? Who has got the answers to cleanse us from the darkness in our mortality? As we hunger to live within our cultural diversity, our hatred and greed, our confusion and ignorance, our selfishness and arrogant pride we make a further mess without mercy and forgiveness. Outside the boundaries of religious, political, and cultural law, do we love one another with dignity? The “Pearl of great price” set the standard? We are all common in our lost ignorance. How do we love our neighbor without love himself? No one is unique in this painful separation and the mystery of God.
If we truly want to know we have to give up our prejudices and opinions and receive His counsel. This is humility.
And where in the world should this piece of Michelangelo, Jesus, and Ian Anderson find its place?
This beautiful leather carving deserves to go on display in a public place of worship or private home and business. From Dubai, London, New York, Paris, Sydney or Las Angeles, it will display proudly on any wall. Not only a beautiful work of art but the allegory written within its intention is a heartfelt inspiration to meditate upon. A guideline toward a liberating contemplation in your own heart.
An exhortation
God has given us a beautiful world to live and play in and this is my exhortation.
“Don’t get so busy building your empire that you forget to stop and appreciate the wonder of humanity that God has put before your eyes”. Jesus has the key to ‘The pearl of great price’. The new covenant has been ratified in the courts of heaven. Today its peace is being heralded throughout the nations and cultures on earth. Forgiveness, mercy, and grace flow freely to anyone accepting heavens’ testimony. “Darkness is defeated”.
I offer this to you, who with open hearts want to hear and want to take to the nations and cultures, His wonderful story of redemption. Washing our impurities is reconciliation under His watchful care.
My story
I have learned more than some, and need to know a lot more from others as God takes me on this wonderful journey. From out of darkness into the light of His presence, peace in my heart, love, and mercy in my actions, and helping others find their way is a privilege. Watching His spirit heal a broken world is awesome. The enemy of goodness was exposed and shamed. Those who seek mercy and forgiveness can find it, without fear and recrimination. the continual beauty and wonder are already available to all.
Enjoy.
PS: The image of Jesus and 2 girls came from an illustration or photograph I found in Christchurch, New Zealand in the ’80s. I have no idea where and I don’t know who to credit. If you know who the person was I would be grateful to credit them for the inspiration. Thanx.
STATUS and MATERIALS
ORIGINAL FOR SALE * Bid or tender for the original artwork. All offers considered around $25,000
Leather dyes and acrylics on hand-carved cow leather. Coachline oils are our preferred protection treatment. This seals moisture content in the leather and keeps it looking fresh. The leatherwork is varnished for further protection. It is mounted on a special feature large particleboard and displayed mounted proudly on 6 mm PSP Alucosign over powder-coated stainless steel tubing.
* Original and Limited Edition reproductions supplied with Provenance, coded Authentication of Sale Certificate, and maintenance/care information.
15 LIMITED EDITIONS “ACRYLIC ENHANCED” CANVAS REPRODUCTIONS
Please ask about the price and sizes – Replicating original size (1370 x 1870) on stretch mounted archival canvas price starting from $3500 inc GST
75 LIMITED EDITIONS CANVAS REPRODUCTIONS *
Unframed sizes | 960 x short side – $960 | 650 x short side – $650
Printed on long-life archival canvas and protected with two coats of UV archival spray.
* Stretch mounted reproductions will incur added charges for mounting and freight.
OPEN EDITION POSTER ART PRINTS *
Unframed sizes | 594 x short side – $120
* Posters printed on fine art papers and treated with two coats of UV archival protection spray.
FASHION and PRODUCTS
Images from “From the Temptation of Eve” are exhibited on Women’s Fashions through Vida and multiple product lines at Fine Art America
SHIPPING
- Includes insurance and package/handling fees.
- The Original and Limited Edition reproductions ship with the Provenance coded Authentication of Sale Certificate and maintenance information.
- Poster art prints ship in insured tubes.
