Isaiah 5:20-24 - Darkness for Light

New Work - Christmas Eve

Based on Isaiah 5:20-24 

 20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

 22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

 23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

 24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

This is probably the most abstract of my metaphors on Isaiah - and will probably become a trend. There are many graphic elements; lines, curves, color elements that have little to do with the metaphors contained in the painting.

The metaphors include the three pairs of color patches that represent verse 20 i.e. the red and white representing Evil and Good. Verse 22 is abstractly shown with the dark wine color running from the top outside corners down through the middle of the grey/black crossing bars. Verse 24 is indicated with the fire and "flowers" with rotting roots.

Isaiah here is speaking to the house of Judah at Jerusalem (actually all occupants of the city). They are wicked enough to be spoken of as the chaff and stubble with roots of rottenness and the blossoms as dust. 

Many of my earlier Isaiah works had no written mention of the scriptural metaphors, others started to have notes. Here I have written a portion of the scripture to help viewers understand both the written and visual metaphors.