Riding the Wheel: St. Anthony’s Book of Hours
Gouache, collage, mixed media on rag paper
1994
“You stand tall on your feet above ground, full
of teeth and lightning.”
This series features the protagonist St. Anthony, as portrayed by the Italian painter Sassetta in a “continuous narrative” painting from the mid 1400’s. In a cycle of twelve paintings, Anthony (known historically as the finder of lost things) is on a quest to find the meaning of life. Each image is framed by an early 20th century topographic map that mirrors the emotional undertones of the journey. From a visit to heaven via a magic beanstalk to Dante’s seven rings of hell and beyond, this contemporary book of hours explores death, life, and the possibility of transcendence.
