Thing and Deception: Whispers of Truth
Enrique Martinez Celaya, Thing and Deception, 1997, Oil on canvas, 96 x 84 in.
In this article, I will explore how whispers of spiritual meaning and universal truths can be heard from within contemporary art even when the work is not explicitly religious in nature. To achieve this, I will analyze Enrique Martinez Celaya’s painting, Thing and Deception (1997), and I will do so from a Christian perspective. To support this idea, I will examine Celaya's symbols, writing, and concept of art consciousness, as well as his quest for morality and truth through his work. Celaya utilizes several symbolic devices in this painting. He uses banal, everyday objects like a chocolate bunny, which the average viewer might connect to the religious holiday, Easter. He also uses a veil that, on its own, holds religious connotations of hiding and revealing simultaneously. The iconography is paired with more symbolic imagery, such as color and placement, to convey a deeper meaning. Celaya is a wordsmith, and his love for writing plays a vital role in the artwork. I will closely examine the writing and poetry that were referenced during the creation of this painting, providing a window into the spiritual meaning of the painting. I will also analyze other writings of Celaya and how the thoughts presented in his texts might influence and inform the ideas of his visual works. I will expand upon Celaya’s notion that art has a conscience, an idea discussed in an interview by Krista Tippett with the artist. This idea explores art's ability to communicate truth to those who view it. A common thread in my research about Celaya is his pursuit of truth. It’s interesting to see how this pursuit influences not only his work but also how he lives his life. His work wrestles with themes of belief and disbelief and could be considered spiritual or religious in nature, but I have found that the artist likes to refer to his work as truthful and transformational. As a writer, it is no surprise that Celaya would select words that might evoke a more profound meaning rather than overarching summary words like spiritual. In many ways, the words that Celaya chooses to describe his work's spiritual connotations could be closer to Christianity than even that of a word like spiritual or religious. This is because the words he strategically chooses to describe his work are the same themes at the root of Christianity. Before we can analyze the previously mentioned motifs, I think it is essential to take a closer look at the formal elements of Thing and Deception as this will lay the foundation for the philosophical and abstract ideas I will propose later in this article.
Looking at some of the basic visual elements in Thing and Deception, the first and perhaps most noticeable element is Celaya’s use of color in this painting. I am not suggesting that many colors are present because the palette is somewhat limited. However, I am referring to the prominence of the few colors present in the work. There is a stark white background and a brilliant red veil contrasted by the cool brown of the chocolate bunny underneath. The artist also uses form to suggest the illusionary three-dimensional aspect of the bunny and how the veil lies over the top of that object within the space. In tandem with form, there is an element of naturalism present in the rendering of these objects that could be found in the real world. The use of line is prominent in this painting through the horizontal cracks layered on the surface of the chocolate bunny. Celaya uses space to emphasize the bunny as the subject while the white background draws the viewer's eye to the center of the painting and directly to the object. There seems to be a light source coming directly above, suggested by the way lighter values transition to darker values as your eye moves from top to bottom of the various three-dimensional planes of the image. This light source direction could be further suggested by the lack of shadow below the bunny, which might only happen if the light source is directly above an object that changes in form, from top to bottom, going from narrow to wide. That is the case with this painting as the ears of the bunny are the most narrow part of the form while the base is the widest portion.
Taking a look more specifically at the compositional elements of Thing and Deception, Celaya uses devices like scale, balance, and rhythm. This painting is rather large at 96 inches by 84 inches so the subject of the image is, by default, scaled to be larger. The size is actually comparable to the size of the person. There is a balance of negative space on either side of the bunny. While the spacing is not the same on both sides, there is still visual balance concerning the two sides. There is also a sense of rhythm in the work in how the vertical folds in the fabric dance across the veil as it conceals the bunny. A contrasting rhythm can be observed in the horizontal cracks that span the chocolate bunny, creating a balance all its own between the vertical and horizontal rhythmic elements. As a whole, the compositional elements work together to direct the viewer and hold their attention on the subject in the center of the canvas. This is achieved by a solid color background with complexity only exhibited by the subject in the center. Keeping these formal elements of the painting in mind, I will explore Celaya’s use of symbolism in his visual work.
Symbolism is perhaps the most obvious place to begin searching for hidden meaning within a work of art. The use of religious iconography in art is not a new concept. During the Second Council of Nicaea, symbolism and iconography were deemed an essential practice of Nicene Christianity (Siedell ch. 4). Since then, icons and symbols have been windows into meaning just below the surface. This indirect meaning, a lot of times, is engrained within anyone who has been in, or around Christianity for any amount of time. Celaya talks about growing up in a Roman Catholic family. Although not a professed Christian himself, Celaya does seem to view everything through a religious lens that influences his life, his art, and his writing (Siedell ch. 3). About religion, Celaya is quoted in an interview stating, “I had a contentious relationship with religion in my childhood. But it still mattered to me. You don’t have contempt with things that don’t matter to you” (Tippett). When looking at the relationship between art and religion, one perspective to consider is the referential perspective, which looks at the use of imagery or symbolism from religious and spiritual traditions within a work of art (Bosman). When looking at Thing and Deception, there is symbolism present that the viewer could interpret as religious or spiritual.
The first example of symbolism is the rabbit concealed under the red veil. Within the Nicene Christian context, a rabbit sometimes symbolizes men who put their trust and salvation in the hands of Christ (Ferguson). It is apparent that the rabbit in Celaya’s painting, Thing and Deception, is a chocolate bunny with possible connotations toward the religious traditions of Easter. It could also be that the rabbit in his painting symbolizes those who believe in Christ. This theory might explain why the bunny itself is fractured and cracked, reflecting Celaya’s contentious relationship with religion and his views on belief versus disbelief (Tippett). The next symbolic element present within the work is the color red. George Ferguson’s interpretation of the color red in Signs & Symbols in Christian Art resonates in Celaya’s work. In this text, Ferguson describes red as the color of emotion-symbolic of both love and hate. From a psychological standpoint, the color red evokes feelings of activity (Birren). The artist claims that he sees Thing and Deception as a work of “passage and finality,” meaning the interpretation of the painting is active and ever-changing throughout the artist’s journey (Seidell ch. 3). Finally, the veil itself is a symbol of revealing and concealing at the same time. This dichotomy seems to be a pattern within the work of Celaya. For example: belief and disbelief, revealing and concealing. Duality is a constant for Celaya within his life and amongst the layers of meaning in his work. This diametric theme is further explored within the artist’s writing.
The writings of Celaya support this idea of spiritual meaning within Thing and Deception. An artist is not just defined by the visual artwork they create. Rather, they are the sum of all the creative facets they explore. This is no less true for Celaya, as he is not only a talent artist but also a skillful writer. His writings, like his art, lean into his constant search for truth. Perhaps the best example of his search for truth is found in his book, Guide, where the author converses with his friend, Thomas, a Franciscan friar. In this fictional conversation, Celaya gets to write on behalf of both a believer, through Thomas, and a nonbeliever, through himself. Here, we see Celaya explore the theme of duality that is typical when he is contemplating questions of larger truths. During this conversation, Thomas is quoted stating, “For someone who claims not to be religious, you speak in a way that sounds very religious to me” (Celaya). This conversation goes on to further reveal that when Celaya was younger he thought that religion and spirituality were problematic. After further reflection, he concluded that the issue was more likely in what he saw as his community’s artificial spirituality. In Guide, Celaya seems to come to terms with the religious and spiritual implications within his life even though he is not entirely religious. In this same light, the ideology of Celaya could be likened to the views of Ludwig Wittgenstien, where he is not religious but he cannot stop viewing things from a spiritual lens (Siedell ch.3). Next, I will explore Celaya’s profound view on the consciousness of art and why it is an essential key to unlocking spiritual meaning within contemporary art.
Artist, Enrique Martinez Celaya
It is apparent that Celaya thinks of his work as an inquiry and the goal of that inquiry is truth. The artist has a unique perspective on how that inquiry might be answered. This idea is what Celaya refers to as the consciousness of art, and it is present in many contemporary works just like Thing and Deception. The example given by the artist is this: when a viewer is looking at Donatello’s David, there is the artwork, the viewer, and then a third thing. This third thing is not necessarily the consciousness of the artist who created the work, nor is it solely the viewer's consciousness. Rather, it is somewhere in the middle where the consciousness of the art itself is speaking to the viewer (Tippett). This is why some works of art speak to certain people in profound ways. Every interaction is unique and some are even transformative. The consciousness of art within contemporary works is even more profound because, unlike historical works that are trapped within a certain moment in history, contemporary art has the ability to transcend time and speak to the viewer in the present with a consciousness that is alive and relevant (Tippet). Considering this idea, the consciousness of art could be a place of divine inhabitance and experience. This is especially true when viewed from an existential perspective, where the viewer has a divine experience through interaction with artistic work. One could argue that the consciousness of art could also be viewed from the reflexive perspective, which analyzes if a work of art would cause the viewer to contemplate spiritual or religious themes such as belief and disbelief (Bosman).
The common thread throughout this paper has been Celaya’s search for truth. It is the driving force behind his work and the main reason Thing and Deception appears as it does today. Before the final painting we see now, two previous versions of work were painted over to make room for the final iteration. The first version was a dark tulip which included a poem by Charles Baudelaire written on the back of the canvas. Baudelaire’s writing inspired the painting of the tulip and the poem is still written on the reverse of Thing and Deception. The second iteration of this painting was a silk rose covered in light-colored paint, each phase of the painting contributing to the final state (Siedell ch. 3). As Celaya’s understanding of truth evolved, so did his painting. This notion is likely why he refers to Thing and Deception as a work of passage and finality. For Celeya, art is a path to truth and has shaped how he creates art. He also is clear about art’s position in his life as a moral compass. Celaya is quoted saying, “I want art to do what religion does for my parents and other believers. A certain ingrained truth, a certain clarifying force in one’s life, a certain guide. And that’s how I have approached it” (Tippet).
During an interview with Krista Tippet for Biola University’s Public Theology Reimagined, Tippet, inquiring about Celaya’s writing, observed that the artist used the word “whisper” a lot in his writing. For example, “whispers of truth,” or the “whisper of the order of things.” The artist admitted that he didn’t realize that he used the word so often. Celaya jests, “maybe why I use the word whisper is because I have little ears. More seriously, it seems that both in science and art, and anything, the truth isn’t screaming that much. I think that you have to be attentive, silent enough, be able to look and listen very, very carefully. But when you do hear something, it’s transformative” (Tippet). Scripture also talks about whispers of truth in the form of a still, small voice. 1 Kings 19:12, refers to the voice of the Lord as a quiet, gentle voice (Holy Bible). We also know from scripture that Jesus is truth and in all His ways, truth can be found (Holy Bible, John 14.6). It is plausible that the whispers of truth that Celaya points to within his work are the same truths that we put our faith in as believers. He is, by his own idea, finding a way to clean the glass in order to view something that simply already is. Celaya suggests that all artists are attempting to point to these same truths in one way or another (Tippet). This effort can be seen across the vast expanse of art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Contemporary art and religion have long resisted one another. This resistance is a disservice to both religious studies and art. Dialogue between the two is mutually beneficial (Arya). Creating art, or any other abstract form of expression is an important method of contemplating difficult questions and seeking answers. As Christians, we know that many of life’s questions can be answered through studying God’s word and building a relationship with Christ. For those who are not believers, these questions are no less present. At our core, all humans crave the same truth. Art can be an enlightening way to wrestle with tough questions for a nonbeliever just as much as it is for a believer. That is why whispers of spiritual meaning and truth can be found even in contemporary art.
Works Cited:
Arya, Rina. “Neglected Place of Religion in Contemporary Western Art.” Fieldwork in Religion, vol. 6, no. 1, 2012, pp. 27–46., https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v6i1.27.
Birren, Faber. Color Psychology and Color Therapy: A Factual Study of the Influence of Color on Human Life. University Books, 1950.
Bosman, Frank G. “When Art Is Religion and Vice Versa. Six Perspectives on the Relationship between Art and Religion.” Perichoresis: the Theological Journal of Emanuel University, vol. 18, no. 3, 2020, pp. 3–20., https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2020-0013.
Celaya Martínez Enrique. Guide. Whale and Star, 2002. Ferguson, George. Signs & Symbols in Christian Art. Oxford University Press, 1954.
Holy Bible. New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Siedell, Daniel A. God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrance of Modern Art. Baker Academic, 2008.
Tippett, Krista. On Being: "Public Theology Reimagined." Interview with Enrique Martínez Celaya. Youtube, Biola University, 6 Apr. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c5gs9sVMIk. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.
