Emmanuel 2006
30in x 27in
Acrylic on Canvas
Collection:Svenska Kyrkan, Sweden
'Emmanuel' is a painting depicting the incarnate Christ in his infancy striking a 'crucified' posture as a prophetic sign of his coming redemptive calling. As the Savior for all mankind, I placed him in an Asian context as a Chinese in a Malaysian 'tikar' leaf mat. I employed symbolism such as 1)Christ sleeping in a sheepskin robe - the Lamb of God 2) Christ's left hand grasping the robe red string as a reminder of God's covenantal promise to Rahab of Jericho. 3)His right hand is pointing at a Chinese opera mask of the righteous Judge Bao- proclaiming himself as the righteous Universal Judge. 4) Below Christ's feet is another operatic figure of Loh Si Fu (Four Tigers Loh), the villian who always speak lies - hence the inverted position with the cracked lip. I thus chose him as a symbol for Satan whom Christ identified as the 'Father of Lies' -Jn8:44. Overall the composition follows the approach of the European Medieval tradition eg Duccio 's Victorious Christ descending into Hell c.1308
