AT HIS RIGHT HAND
Craig Ford | Not for sale
Mixed Media (acrylic paint, white charcoal, gold leaf, thread, marker, and colored pencil on 16"x20" pastel paper and cardstock)
Mark 10:35-45
Dedicated to caregivers everywhere who provide Christ's comfort, hope, and love to the disabled and infirmed.
In 2018, my dad suffered a massive stroke that left him in a disabled state. This catastrophic event thrust my mom into the role of his primary caregiver and me, the supporting caregiver. After many months of rehab, my mom and dad moved into my house in the spring of 2019. For over four years, my mom, my older sister, and I lovingly took care of my dad until he passed into eternity with Christ in the spring of 2023. In his final days, he rested in a hospital bed in my living room under hospice care, and my mom, my sister, and I often held his hand as we spoke to him and prayed over him. This artwork, At His Right Hand, captures those intimate moments of my family.
When I was invited to create a work that illustrates a passage in the book of Mark, I was drawn (pun intended) to Mark 10:35-45. In this passage, James and John asked Jesus to allow them to sit to His right and left in glory. After declining their request, Jesus used the opportunity to teach His grumbling disciples about service. Upon reading the passage, I chuckled to myself and thought, "How can James or John possibly sit next to Jesus when He was obviously sitting next to my dad in my living room during my dad's last days many months ago?" I say this because Jesus used my family as vessels of His comfort, hope, and love as we held my dad's hand. And ultimately as a result of the four-year-plus experience, He taught me so much about service.
At His Right Hand was created to not only share Christ's glory and story in my family's life, but it was also created to exhort and encourage anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation. If this applies to you, please know that Jesus is working through you as His comfort, hope, and love flow into your loved ones as you humbly serve them. My prayer is that you find comfort and strength as you view this work. And maybe, just maybe, some of His comfort, hope, and love will flow from this work into your heart as well.
Symbolism:
-The juxtaposition between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional components: (1) the difference between the Creator and the created and (2) the difference between the physical and spiritual worlds
-Blue, silver, and black background: my dad loved the Dallas Cowboys so the dark background is made up of the team's official colors; the door symbolizes both the actual position of my dad to our front door and the passage into eternity with Christ; also, the colors contrast with the glowing colors of the gold leaf and colored pencil to further emphasize the divide between the two worlds mentioned above
-The geometric shapes: the middle ground is made up of geometric shapes that combine to make the impression of a person (in broken pieces) lying in a hospital bed and their right hand being held by the two hands of their caregiver; this is symbolic of both my family and the families who have faced similar situations as us
-The glowing hands: a visual interpretation of Christ & His Spirit indwelling the believer and caregiver; the hands and arms themselves contain various symbols for God (seven stars, the Word of God, the lion and the lamb, the Trinity, alpha and omega, a dove, and the crown of thorns)
-The gold thread: a representation of the bond between the believer and Christ/Spirit; there are 77 stitches that match the age of my dad when he passed away (and my mom did the stitching!); also, thread implies clothing, and Paul instructs us to "clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ" in Romans 13:14
-The gold circles: the light of Christ manifests itself as gold leaf circles that remind me of halos found in Byzantine art and since I'm a comic book enthusiast, of energy in the form of "the Kirby Crackle"
-The flowing, gold leaf fire: the comfort, hope, and love of Christ flows from the caregiver into the arm of the infirmed; the speckles of gold leaf throughout the composition represent the divine attributes of God found in creation (Romans 1)