Light of the Dead

Light of the Dead
2002, acrylic on canvas
66 x 48 in.


Light of the Dead


Light of the Dead presents an unsettling but magical and otherworldly scene dominated by a lone figure suspended in a glowing, amorphous space. The figure hangs from a rope that descends from an unknown source beyond the top of the canvas. The figure is not grounded to the earth. It floats in space with its headless, greenish-gray body riddled with open wounds and decaying flesh. The flesh of the upper torso is stripped clean exposing its ribcage, while the lower body is mostly intact except for its blackened wounds.

A sense of violence pervades the picture. The abdomen is a gaping hole possibly created by an internal explosion of light that has left jagged flaps of skin hanging along its edges. Inside the abdomen one finds a tangled knot of golden intestines illuminated by the light emanating from the figure's chest.

The pose of the figure and the gesture of the hands counterbalance this horror. They exude a sense of openness and acceptance - as if the figure has transcended the violence and is in a state of beauty and grace. This combination of beauty, grace, and violence creates an overall effect of mystery, prompting several seemingly unanswerable questions. Who is this figure? What is the figure's gender? How did its flesh become so flayed? Who constructed this horrible tableau?

One challenge for an artist is to give form to the intangible. In Light of the Dead I have tried to capture the fleeting moment when the soul departs the body. The soul in this case takes the form of light emanating from the figure's chest – a chest that has symbolically housed the figure's soul during life. And now that the light is free it bursts forth like an explosion, scattering particles outward, creating a glowing circular aura that illuminates the scene. This circular aura is a transcendent space that now becomes the eternal resting place for the figure's soul while also providing light for all life.

Light of the Dead follows my tradition of periodically creating minimal works instead of highly complex ones. In them I simplify the compositions as well as other aspects of the picture. This typically results in works that possess a directness and immediacy. In Light of the Dead, this allows the viewer to see in a single glance the overall starkness, disturbing brutality, and transcendent beauty depicted in the painting.




Light of the Dead
2002, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 48 in.


Cleansing the Invisible Man
2005, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 48 in.

Lastly, it is interesting to note that Light of the Dead represents my first use of this basic composition and figure pose. They can be seen in three later paintings, Cleansing the Invisible Man (2005), Resurrection (2017/2011), and Caught in the Crossfire (2018-2019).

- Brian Mains, May 2021