The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a theme rendered many times throughout history but few so close to the actual event as this. Beginning in the early to mid ’80’s James has made three attempts in oil at this idea, one of which is included to the right.

But he was never satisfied with the look of the image nor did he believe he had enough information to deliver anything more than another fanciful Four Housemen knock off.

But as the allure of new technology presents itself and with a closer vantage point with which to accurately draw Biblical imagery from, James has taken on this long awaited and very large scale project in 3D sculpting rather than traditional painting to achieve a hopefully finer dynamic image with more options.

The strategy of painting by his method is to sculpt and paint individual components and then assemble them into a final composition to be rendered and finished as an oil would be. The goal is still a painting but the process is being experimented with.

The White Horse cell to the right is incomplete. The Antichrist is depicted as a puppet, not intended to be an impressive character, with his henchman the “Muslim Jesus” anticipated in Islamic eschatology.

To the upper right is an early sculpt for a Cherub as seen in Ezekiel chapter one. The Cherub is presently intended to take up at least a third panel in the Four Horsemen ensemble.  In Revelation, Jesus Christ Himself opens each respective “Seal” of a heavenly scroll releasing each horseman in succession to finalize judgment upon the wicked men of the earth.  The scene is more horrific than any that has ever been endured but do not think it chaotic as if unorchestrated.  God does nothing so sloppily.

The inclusion of the Cherub is intended  to convey the divine nature of these events and that God forever remains the Maestro. It is also my hope to jolt people to the awareness that angelic beings are not fat chubby babies, helpless and hapless. They are fearsome persons to encounter whose power is beyond our comprehension.

There is much yet to be said so stay tuned for developments!

Three of the four horsemen are represented in a separate cell to highlight the first White Horse by himself. This cell will be displayed much like an altar piece with several panels working in concert to depict various elements of a complex and layered composition.

The red horse, War, is followed by Pestilence and then Death/Hades. After the three are sufficiently developed as isolated elements they were placed in a hellish contextual environment and polished to a final state.

This painting contains such a  fine amount of detail that it must be produced at a very large size to do both the resolution and subject matter justice.

kanionrhodes@mac.com

The Three Horsemen cell to the left in complete state is approximately 6’ wide.  Many people familiar with traditional Biblical eschatology tend to expect a Roman/European Antichrist forgetting that the Ottoman Empire encompassed the eastern territory of the Roman empire and is poised to take the rest of Europe, and then the world. This thesis will be expanded upon as the work progresses.

To the left is a very despicable figure, “the Whore of Babylon” riding in the very place that absolutely no one save Christ himself should dwell- upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Mercy Seat was sprinkled with blood for the forgiveness of sins once a year by the High Priest.  This foreshadowed the final blood ransom paid by the Messiah who alone is worthy to take the Mercy Seat between God and man.

Catholicism's goddess is respected in Islam and I believe will be compatible for a time until Islam’s Taqiyya based advantage is no longer necessary and the whore (Catholicism) will be destroyed.

Though I am not meaning to be offensive, the Marian icon can be nothing less than an impostor, an entity that is not God sitting in the place of God to steal the affections and adulation due Him alone.

Islamic End Times belief is that the Muslim Jesus will produce the Ark at his return to prove he is not divine, if you can get your mind around that. Thus this image was produced incorporating my own visual vernacular to demonstrate the ridiculousness of this final charade of the rule of man.                                                                     JC

To the left is the pope kneeling on a magic carpet loathing his second fiddle status, subservient to the Antichrist.

And below is a detail of the carpet texture.

Detail, Swiss Guard

In light of recent developments in the field of post human engineering  this character was developed as a representative of scientifically modified human ‘enhancements ‘  which will presumably  give us a better chance at survival in the path of an ever upward ascension of human evolution locked in mortal competition with our neighbors.

One thing I have always wondered about is Jesus’ statement that the conditions at the time of Noah will mirror  those at the time of his near future return. One of those earmarks is stated in Genesis as the presence of the Nephilim, the offspring of the ‘sons of God  with the daughters of men’ in the land. In other words, human/demonic hybrids polluting the pure human gene pool.

As we have modified food stocks and all manner of plant and stockyard life, so this technology is bleeding into human engineering as well. But once such alterations enter the human pool, how long will it be until a purely human being no longer exists? And the more varieties  that are developed the shorter the time Human 1.0 has left on earth.

However one may react to such a specter, whether in revulsion or denial that such a thing could possibly exist, it would be incumbent upon such a person to do a little research into the machinations of our own and foreign Defense Department’s commitments to produce new breeds of battlefield superior soldiers and workers performing numbingly repetitive tasks. Google awaits you.

I do not look foreword to the day my daughter comes homes and announces, “Daddy, I just met this new boy today; he’s kinda different but really nice...”

The small image to the left is an earlier working version of the Three Horsemen. The background was modified as the White Horseman cell developed.