Peter Is Called to Ministry and Martyrdom

Peter Is Called to Ministry and Martyrdom

Oil on cradled canvas

6’ x 4.5’

December 8, 2021 – January 6, 2022

This is a companion painting to The Pauline Letters.

Daybreak. After catching a net full of grouper, the fisherman Peter is about to turn his boat and paddle home. As he does so, he has a vision of the medieval papal crown, and the tip of his oar’s shaft takes on the image of an inverted cross.

The painting alludes not only to the miracle of the fishing nets, Peter’s calling as a fisher of men, his martyrdom, and his designation as the rock on which the Catholic church is built, but also to the later blinding of Paul of Tarsus and Constantine’s vision of the cross in the heavens.

The Galilean boat is a smaller version of the fishing boat in Christ Calming The Storm. The throat and blade of the oar, however, are not Galilean; they are a memory of the artist’s visit to Pagsanjan Falls many years ago. The halo round the papal crown was made to simulate the shape of a Tibetan ghau gau, or portable shrine, as, in The Pauline Letters, Paul’s halo is comprised of the Tibetan lotus mandala.

The auditory stimulus I used while making this painting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLjEtvNe7CI. Do listen to it while viewing the painting.