James Cordova Arts

Bulto, 2002

Hand-carved wood, hand-adzed panels, home-made gesso, water-based natural pigments, piñon-resin varnish, leather, paper.

Cosmovisión Cristiana / Alegoría de la Redencion (Christian Cosmovision / The Allegory of Redemption)

This work summarizes the Christian Cosmovision whose primary themes—the Fall of Man and the Redemption of Humankind through the suffering and death of Christ—are juxtaposed. At the bottom of the cross appear Adam Eve who have already eaten from the apple of the tree of life and have become ashamed of their nakedness. This event known in Christianity as the Fall of Man resulted in the state of original sin, into which all humans are born, until they are purged of it through baptism. In the center of the cross appears an image of the crucified Christ whose death redeemed the sinfulness of mankind. To either side of Christ, in a night sky and day sky, appear images of the sun and the moon—references to the creation of the universe and Christ's transcendence of the world into the heavenly realm. Above Christ appears a dove—the image of the Holy Spirit—who is surrounded by the billowing clouds of heaven—the state of perfection and salvation that a penitent soul achieves at its death.