My Brother’s Art

Art and my brother Jack go hand in hand. He’s always done it, always been good at it. Everything he’s tried has been impressive. He thinks in a way that I don’t, and always has an angle to a situation that I’ve never thought of, and that’s how his art is too. I’m always thinking, “How’d you think of that?”

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That’s how I feel about every single painting he’s been doing in the last several years, each one about a different scripture verse. It’s a style I’ve never seen him do, and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone do anything like it. It’s a style I’d never dream up, and every painting makes me think, “Whoa, what is it trying to say? I need to go check that scripture verse!” Because nothing’s arbitrary. There’s meaning in every element he puts in it.

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If you ever wanted to commission someone to do an intricate, technically-difficult pencil drawing of a huge gnarled tree, Jack would be the one. So when he started painting this series, it was 180 degrees from what I had seen from a long time ago.

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I’ve always looked up to Jack’s intelligence and creativity, and I wish I could hear more of his wisdom because his thoughts are so dang interesting. Though I lack proximity to him (he’s in Princeton, Illinois), I’m glad he records his thoughts online, in sermons, and on the radio. He’s also typed up what each of his “Scrisual” (visual scripture) paintings means. I’d love for him to record his thoughts about each one in an audio form, because I also love what comes out in the way he speaks.

The other day, he gave a talk to an artist group about four of his paintings in his Scrisual Arts series. They boggle the mind, even when you look up the scripture verses they portray, and then they all make so much sense when Jack explains what you’re seeing. Kind of like visual riddles made perfectly clear. Sounds like Jesus’s parables.