James Brown
“Apocalypse Cave”, Patmos”, 2023
Oil on wood panel
Size: 45 x 45 cm
My painting, though titled “Apocalypse
Cave”—the cave where St. John the Evangelist is reputedly said to have written
“The Book of Revelations”—doesn't actually depict the cave itself. This might
seem paradoxical, but there's a reason. The forest edge seen in the painting
captures the essence of my experience waiting with Isabelle to enter that
important site on the Greek island of Patmos.
As I stood in line with other
tourists, I was struck by the feeling of temporal connection. I imagined myself
in the same forest that St. John would have known, breathing its scents, seeing
an unchanged landscape frozen in time. The act of waiting felt almost divine, a
moment imbued with historical and spiritual reverence.
While I'm not practicing faith
in a conventional sense, I realised then that the true essence of the place
wasn't confined to the physical cave. It resided in that transitional space, in
my own reverie amidst the trees. As a result, this realisation ultimately led
me to create this painting, a work tenuously linked to its title, yet deeply
connected to the profound experience of being in that place.
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