The Bible of Saint Luke
"The Bible of Saint Luke" is an exploration of reverence, desecration, and the sacred versus the profane. This altered Methodist confirmation Bible—a relic of personal and communal faith—has been transformed into an anonymous artifact, its function subverted and its meaning redefined. By gluing its pages shut, save for the chapter of Luke and the priest’s confirmation signature, the work interrogates the fragility and permanence of belief systems. The blackened cover, stripped of its title, reduces the Bible to a physical object rather than a sacred text, forcing the viewer to question the materiality of the divine.
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Saint Luke, one of the four evangelists, is traditionally associated with the symbol of the bull, representing sacrifice, strength, and service. This symbolism intersects with the placement of the three COLT 45 bottle caps—artifacts of modern secular indulgence. The caps, modified in cyan, magenta, and yellow, reference the printing process and the visual construction of reality. Beneath the caps lies a Byzantine portrait of Jesus Christ, juxtaposing the divine image with the banal and the earthly. The trinity of colors parallels the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—rendering a theological construct through a lens of industrial culture.
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The Methodist perspective on the Trinity emphasizes relational and participatory faith, a communion between God and humanity. Here, the trinity of bottle caps and the hidden portrait evoke a distorted communion—a “drunk belief” that conflates physical intoxication with spiritual revelation. The line inscribed along the book's seam, "FORGET THE BOOK AND LET THE BOTTLE DO THE PREACHING," critiques the ease with which faith can be supplanted by ephemeral and earthly pleasures. The desecration of this holy object is not an act of malice but a deliberate dismantling of its authority to provoke deeper questions: What remains sacred when the symbols of holiness are undone? How do material objects shape our perception of the divine?
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In "The Bible of Saint Luke", the crossing out of every line in the chapter of Luke mirrors the act of crossing out dogma. It leaves the text visible but nearly illegible, a whisper of meaning erased by the artist's hand. This tension between accessibility and obliteration reflects the artist’s interrogation of faith, memory, and the rituals we build around them. The work invites viewers to confront the paradoxes of belief: the collision of sacred tradition and modern excess, the coexistence of clarity and obfuscation, and the intoxicating allure of reinterpretation.
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In desecrating and reimagining a holy object, this piece challenges the audience to consider the duality of destruction and creation. What does it mean to desecrate the sacred? In rendering it unrecognizable, does one strip it of meaning, or does one uncover new forms of spiritual engagement? Through "The Bible of Saint Luke", the artist calls on us to examine the relics of our faith, the idols of our consumption, and the complex interplay between them.
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The Bible of Saint Luke
Mixed media
00 x 00 x 00 in / 00 x 00 x 00 cm
1998​
