Painting as an Exercise in Being
ODW Interviews Artist Daniel Bonnell

Daniel Bonnell graduated from the Atlanta College of Art in 1978 with a BFA. His post-graduate studies were under photographer Ansel Adams and designer Milton Glaser. You can visit Bonnell’s Images on Christ work on his Web site www.ImagesOnChrist.com.

ODW: What mediums do you work in?

Bonnell: I only work in oil. There is no other medium worth working in.

ODW: When you’re creating something, are you exploring ideas that you are working out? Are you intentional about communicating something in particular?

Bonnell: My paintings are very intentional in that they reveal divine moments in Scripture. These are moments that we miss within the medium of a book. We must see beyond the words on the page and push the image of the scene a bit. When we do, our perspective may change. Take the focal point of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem “The Raising of Lazarus,” for instance. Rilke takes the reader into the mind of Christ and we read how nature itself must be disturbed because of a lack of faith from Mary and Martha. The focal point is not what we would expect: Lazarus, a man, coming alive again. Through Rilke’s poem we see everything surrounding the event, which defines the event as it should be.

In my painting I try to capture the same scope of interpretation. Only I want to see what is most important in the scene. For instance in my painting Jairus’ Daughter, scripture takes you right into the room with the 12 year-old girl. Jesus asks the mourners to leave because they are a distraction. We then read that he tells the little girl to awake and she does. But back up just a moment. What was the defining moment between when he asked the mourners to leave and before he raised the child? What went through his mind? If this Jesus is able to raise a human from the dead, what does that say about who he is? Are we only seeing Jesus the healer here? Perhaps we need to see Jesus as more than that.

In this painting Jesus is the creator of this, his child, not just a miracle worker. He pauses for a moment and contemplates what death has done. It is this moment that I painted Jairus’ Daughter.

ODW: Tell us about your process of creation. How do you transform your idea into something tangible?

Bonnell: After meditating on a particular passage of Scripture I let the content create its own image. I then take the image to paper and develop several sketches. Once the image is down, I go right into painting the sketch on canvas. My motivation is to always see something that I failed to see before through the reading.

ODW: Do you have moments of inspiration? Where do you think they come from?

Bonnell: Rarely. I do believe that one can be a receiver and clearly hear the voice of God. I fear, though, that I fail miserably to this end, although I try. I guess I see myself as one who exists in a cave and I stumble towards the light, always working on my footing.

I must confess, though, there was one painting that was inspired in a moment. I had just read the Scriptures on Jairus’ daughter [Mark 5:22–43] and my meditation was “God what could I paint that would encourage anyone who ever lost a child?” I knew that because I had never had to go through that kind of suffering, it would be presumptuous of me to assume that I could convey the appropriate encouragement. However I was given an image in a moment after I had prayed the prayer. It was as if a Polaroid had come out of my brain like it does from the camera. It was like God said, “Okay. Paint this.” Since the completion of the painting I have received emails from mothers who have lost young children, and they say the painting encourages them greatly.

ODW: Does your art contain recurring themes or statements? What are some of those and are they premeditated? Do you feel you have specific ideas you are trying to communicate?

Bonnell: Yes, that is a very good question. There are two recurring themes in most of my work. The first theme is the symbolism of God the Father reaching out to mankind through his Son. The second theme is the cross itself. I am infatuated with the cross, I suppose. I feel that all of our issues with this existence can be solved though applying the message of the cross (that of sacrifice, mercy and forgiveness) to our lives. That is the one idea that I stay focused on. My purpose in painting is this one thing—to bless the Father by honoring his son. It is a very Kierkegaardian approach to my life and work.

ODW: How do you think of your art in relation to God, your faith, and what you are called to do?

Bonnell: I would think twice before I would hang the name of Christ onto everything I did.

I am a human being that follows the teachings of Jesus, though I stumble in doing so like a man trying to walk with two broken legs. My painting is what I do; it is what I am. It is painting, not Christian painting.

I believe that my painting is a simple extension of my faith. Just as an athlete has better discipline to perform because she understands that there are choices in this world, the Bible gives us the right choices and that is where faith enters in. I appreciate what Søren Kierkegaard said, “Evidence of the eternal is faith itself.” One need not paint sacred images of divine moments to be who God made them to be, though I must. One could just as well paint still-lifes and feel that they are following his teachings. Art does not need to be limited to sacred images. As far as what I am called to do, I have no idea. I just want to paint.

ODW: Does your faith in God limit what you do in your art somehow?

Bonnell: This is another very good question. And I would have to say the answer is yes.

If I were not a follower of Christ, weak as I am, I would only have a focus on the world and nature. Instead I have a focus on the eternal, which for me is the most important element in what I paint. I ask myself, can my work have an impact on that which is eternal? If I am only about representing afresh that which is already revealed, then what value is there in my art other than being decorative? Is it possible to see a window between the two realms of temporal and eternal? If we are not just flesh and bone but spirit as well, why can’t we apply that which is spiritual to physical sight as a natural exercise of being? I believe we can see in such a way and that it should be more natural than we make it, though we be artists, housewives, plumbers or teachers.

ODW: What is your take on why contemporary Christianity has seemingly moved so far from the arts compared with other forms of Christianity in previous historical periods?

Bonnell: I think we are in a sophisticated dark ages period. As a whole, the church is still in the dark regarding high art and so are the Catholic and Anglican churches. I suppose you could say that in the west we do not seek to show great respect to God in our comfortable existence. We find that such items as labyrinths and icons are foolish or silly. Rather than owning them as tools for worship and understanding we [the Christian Community] gravitate towards Christian music, where every arrangement sounds the same. We have a need for 20 translations of the Bible in English when only half the languages of the world have a Bible translation; we worship God via the electronic church or television and feel we have spent time with him.

I hope that in this century there is a generation that leads the church into appreciating creativity, that we see that creative work is very godly and even holy in its exercise. I hope that the future church sees that God the Father and his Son rejoice at our creativity. I believe that the non-believing world might just sit up and take notice of the freedom, creativity and joy that can be expressed by a believing people.

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