Adam & Eve - The bible here is more of an anthropological fact then a biblical myth. For we now do know that Eve as an Asian woman, descended from Adams African origins. Without any literary reference everyone will know by instinct the event at hand, as we finally get to perceive the appropriate message, that creation and knowledge is a multi-racial phenomenon, as well as a natural one.

Madonna and Child - In the manner of Caravaggio this classic portrait is posed for a 21^st century Madonna and Child, yet it is more like a renaissance painting than a photograph, almost as if Artemisia Gentileschi photographed it, had she had a camera. The skin tone and the tan lines between the two figures exposed bodies draws us into the present in a very subtle way. The lighter tone of the Madonna’s breast, and the bikini line of the infant Christ becomes more apparent as we realize the child is also female. Christ’s predestined suffering is seen here by the child’s out stretched arm, emphasizing the crucifixion to come, with the feminine essence embodied in this child who will have to bear the weight of a tortured woman in order to become a suffering God.

Anna Magdalene - A portrait of one of Christianity’s feminine apostles, Mary Magdalene is seen here in a traditional pose set in an Italian Baroque context. A woman with long flowing hair in a state of ecstasy after having seven demons (seven deadly sins) exercised from her by Christ. We are aware of this because she is gathering herself together as she rises out of sin. We see her here in a contemporary idiom as her gestures become sexually explicit, unlike any other portrayal of her, making her state of ecstasy not just a spiritual liberation but simultaneously liberating her sexuality. Explicitly sighting her devotion to Christ as a sexual experience. Exemplifying the theory that she could very well be Christ’s mistress or wife. This is Mary Magdalene’s state of ecstasy as Christ proposes marriage to her.

Lucretia- Directly inspired by Artemesia Gentileschi’s Lucretia, Cynthia Karalla’s Lucretia retains most of the characteristic of Artemesia painting of Lucretia. We are seeing our subject from the same perspective as the light would be cast in the manner of a Rembrandt or a Caravaggio. With light being a standard apparatus of manipulation in Baroque art, we envision the subject matter as if we are either the light of her salvation, or the light of her damnation, as we see the subject from the vantage of the light. In retaining the conservative aspects of the portrait and remaining with in the genre’s boundaries, Cynthia make the spectator the modern dimension in the painting (Photography) giving each and every one of us the authority of divine judgement.

Artemesia paints her Lucretia as a biographical depiction of the consequences of rape, herself having been raped by her father’s assistant, makes this Roman myth and its’ references to rape that much more profound. By raising the issue of chastity, Artemesia portray its loss with devastating consequences, as defined by an all-male dominated Baroque audience. We are the audience in Cynthia’s 21^st century Lucretia. We are given the opportunity to bare witness at the moment of suicide, just before it happens. Lucretia’s chastity has been taken, her dignity has been annihilated, and life for Lucretia is ending with us looking down upon her, like the grace of light. We can judge her salvation for her devotion to her fidelity, or dam her for being raped and committing suicide, as her new audience is not only male to judge but finally female as well.

El Communion - Portrayed with near perfect symmetry, where the image is well balanced, and our subject can be painfully bisected down the middle of the image. Her agonizing adherence to her faith is evident in the expression on her face. The fact that a fifty year old woman is still able to wear her communion dress, from when she was seven years old, further attests to the agonizing attachment some women are willing to adhere to in order to gain salvation, and to be embraced by God and mankind.

Mary & Jesus - The mourning Mary, seen here as a masculine form, allows us to perceive the androgynous nature of these two divine entities. We can assess Christ as a suffering God much like a suffering woman, for the feminine gender has always been the embodiment of suffering. Mary becomes masculine in mourning, while she loses her motherhood she also loses her femininity.

Joan of Arc - Our first perception of Joan of Arc is distorted, rather than expecting a fair Norman maiden, we have an Oriental Joan that could have been a Native American. Instead we have a concept of Joan that represents feminine virtue, strength and uncompromising faith as an embodiment of a race-less Joan of Arc, filled here with devotion and in a state of surrender only to God. She is a national hero and her steel gray shawl is a testimony to her invincible armor and fearlessness, and her white cuffs to her virgin purity. And ultimately she drapes herself in a black shawl, as she prepares for a fearless death.

Christo Morto - If we had had a camera in 1544 this could very well have been a photograph of Hans Baldung Grien’s "The bewitched Groom." Like the Bewitched Groom we are left without knowing if our man is dead, in contemplation, or in a state of ecstasy, and like Baldung Grien’s engraving there is a sense of an ambivalent atmosphere with an ensuing sadness, reminiscent of Mantegna’s "Cristo Morto." There is an unknowing sense of helplessness, the dark void could be the witch’s curse upon a guilt ridden, death-fearing man, who lost his chance at repentance yet still retains his innocence. He is prepared to die for he still wears his military boots, attesting to his life as a soldier ready to die. Our Christo Morto is drowning in the Caravaggiesque darkness, and death has left him in a state of ecstatic ambivalence.

Saint Sebastian - It would have better to refer to this emblem of martyrdom as one of the most complex icons’ of Christendom, and every depiction of him through out history manifests itself in a different and altered context. So many artists have rendered Saint Sebastian in so many different ways that his very legend changes depending on the artist’s intentions. But one thing we do know is that he is a desired martyr. His body and nudity has always been depicted as a testimony to beauty. We have our saint in his most perfect sensual pose, portraying the beauty of man, as any renaissance artist would have imaged. He is naked, beautiful, we are all passionately moved by him. Rather than the renaissance martyr with dozen of arrows in his body, our saint is frozen in a time shortly after the first arrow had been shot. Our Saint Sebastian is awaiting his death, this depiction portrays him as life is about to depart from him. A death he looks forward to, a release from the very machine he is bound to, a desire we all share with him, which also brings him into the modern fold. Our saint becomes an idiom of our liberation, as his martyrdom takes place with us as his spectator. We are left with no other choice but to bear witness to his death as it takes place for us in our presence.

Saint John the Baptist - By super imposing our model as Leonardo’s Saint John the Baptist giving us the finger, somehow, makes this Italian renaissance icon a contemporary biblical epic much like Caravaggio’s "Calling of Saint Matthew" taking place in 16^th Century Rome.

Entertainment - The same way Buddha is portrayed in his feminine appearance as a Bohdhisattva, we see the Crucifixion transformed as a woman in ecstasy. For a prophet undergoes a spiritual metamorphosis in order to become receptive to a divine incarnation, similar to a woman being receptive to conception, for Christ’s suffering is seen here as a feminine characteristic, and by her suffering we find our salvation. Our model here is a portrayal of the feminine sacrifice and suffering she is willing to bear, so that her appearance will be worshipped as entertainment.

Babs Zadej