Jesse Gilad, Our Life, Our Light.
Rob.
Acrylic.
:::
about this piece.
Rob describes his painting, "On arriving home from the hospital for the first time after our son Jesse’s funeral, I felt a strong desire to create something. I am no artist. The painting that somehow emerged in a matter of hours symbolizes my burning heart and the clockwise journey around the canvass that its beats will follow - finally coming to acceptance that Jesse is a rest.
"While his little body is entombed by the earth, his soul is free and is represented by the white surrounding light. The canvas was painted with acrylic applied with only a rag and my finger.
"A friend (also grieving) who viewed this piece for the first time looked at the painting and pointed to respective places in the picture that represented his and his wife’s place in the grieving cycle. My wife and I now find it useful to do the same, pointing at a place and saying, 'I’m here today.' It seems the closer to the red burning, the more intense the grief.
"Jesse’s middle name ‘Gilad’ is a Hebrew word meaning ‘a monument’ and the stone structure in the right hand corner is symbolic of this and depicts his grave. Interestingly though, our 5 year old nephew looked at it and commented, 'How did you draw that boat?'”
about the contributor.
Rob’s son Jesse was stillborn at 38 weeks in 2010. While he has played with acrylics for a year or two mainly trying copy colorful designs, it took this huge grief to push him to spontaneously create an own original artwork which has served as a therapeutic tool and as a reference of where he is in the grieving cycle. He has not been able to paint again since, but hopes to do so one day soon.
The colors and the way the piece works as a whole is so strong~
ReplyDeleteWonderful colors and the meanings behind each aspect of this piece are so powerful.
ReplyDeleteIt's very beautiful, and provides such a depth of meaning for your grief. I hope you paint again. I'm glad you shared this with us.
ReplyDeleteI love the meaning of your son's middle name.
ReplyDeleteI think I can see parts of my own grieving cycle reflected in your painting. The red burning grief and also the white surrounding light. I can see why it has proved itself useful as a reference point for you and your wife as well as a beautiful artwork in honour of your son.
I hope you paint again too.