Contemporary Bible Art on Old Testament themes by Darius Gilmont. Darius’ naive and colourful style presents us with a fresh approach to Biblical stories. His refreshing Bible art, originally aimed at children and young people, transcends age categories and touches us all. Based in Israel, Darius has been working on Bible art for the last thirty years.
It all started when the artist, self-exiled from the small architectural office where he had been working in Tel Aviv, went wandering in the Sinai desert, in search of meaning and some kind of salvation. The vast and ancient fire-burnt landscapes breathed their furnace-breath across their expanses, and spoke to the impressionable young artist of the power of the Eternal.
Here was where the Israelite ancestors had walked on their journey from slavery to freedom. Here was where their leader Moses had received the Torah from G-d. And the rock they saw, the sand they trod, and the furnace-air they had breathed, was the same rock, the same sand and the same air as he now lived. Thus began an artist’s odyssey into the lore of the ancient Torah.
Back in Tel Aviv, Darius began painting. Vast desert landscapes emerged, populated by tiny white-robed figures; figures that wandered in search of oases, or cities, or revelation, or otherwise standing in formation, formally enacting ancient and sacred rituals. Later these figures became larger and more defined, the landscapes less massive, and everything took on a more colourful and lively feel. Darius had become interested in naive art, where the focus was less on the mystical and more on the magical within everyday life. His Bible art began to fuse both approaches: the mystical and the naive, and it is that dialogue which continues in his work today.
This is a post about three paintings: A view of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, a Jaguar E-type sports car, and a Kung Fu lesson in the park. But first, a few ruminations about what’s been going on in Israel. The recent release of hostages has been very emotional for a great many in Israel. […]
A Colourful Landscape of the Jerusalem Hills This new painting depicting the Jerusalem hills emerged quite quickly and spontaneously. I think the energy comes across in the brushwork. I really enjoyed doing this painting because of just that flowing feeling. It’s far less technical than a lot of my work recently, and that’s definitely liberating. […]
2 Kings 2: As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen! יא וַיְהִי, […]
I find gold leaf painting very beguiling. It’s because of the sheen and reflectivity, the layers and the textures that you can achieve. Sometimes it can take years to finish a painting like this. Each time I come back to it, I add another layer, until the encrusted agglomeration of cracked and riddled surfaces becomes […]
Between Heaven and Earth I made this painting a couple of years ago, shortly after finishing the Daniel painting. Inspired by the angel from that project, I wanted to experiment a bit more with angels, which is a difficult subject. The story of Jacob’s Ladder is about the bridge between heaven and earth so in […]
This is another in my series of gold-leaf, decorative paintings on the Tree of Life theme inspired by Gustav Klimt. Pattern and decoration were key elements in the art nouveau canon of Klimt’s time, as well as in the Arts and Crafts Movement that preceded it. More recently the Pattern and Decoration Movement in the […]
Wishing you a Shana Tova! Shana Tova and family update: We’ve had a fairly intensive summer, mainly focused on celebrating our son Ariel’s bar mitzvah. We had twenty guests from the UK who came specially – family and friends. It was a really amazing, wonderful and meaningful event – or series of events – but […]
“Late for Shul,” is the first painting in a new series of Jewish humorous art. With these paintings, I’ll be reflecting a wide range of Jewish life by painting people, places and situations which will be familiar to many in Israel and elsewhere. Working in a simple and colourful style, I want to convey a […]
Artists have for centuries painted their visions of the Bible. Adorning churches and manuscripts across the world, Biblical artists have created powerful visual embodiments of the Scriptures, and in so doing have represented the collective consciousness of mankind. Biblical art has mostly been the preserve of Christendom, while Jewish lore forbade figurative art. Judaic religious […]
Within Daniel in the Lions’ Den is also an angel painting…..There was much debate about how to depict the angel. The final stages of this painting involved quite a lot of changes, and included adding the angel with his golden wings (gold leaf protected by shellac varnish)……now that feels better! Daniel needed his angel. This […]
