Sergii Radkevych’s work appears in some of the most unlikely places in Ukraine—on abandoned buildings, the exterior walls of run-down properties, and “public spaces that have lost their function.” Merging street art, iconography, and abstraction, he spray-paints icons of Jesus and other religious images—a hand of blessing, the keys of St.
In this sculpture, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) depicts St. Jerome, the fourth-century hermit and scholar. Jerome translated the Greek Bible into Latin, a text that became the commonly used version of the Bible in the church, known as the Vulgate. A popular legend states that when a lion raised its wounded paw, Jerome removed the thorn, after which the lion became his constant companion. Bernini’s sculpture was commissioned by his longtime friend Cardinal Fabio Chigi, after he became Pope Alexander VII in 1655. The new pope wanted Bernini to redesign the Chigi family chapel in Rome.
Minnesota artist Jim Larson describes Take That, Caesar as a mash-up of the two Gospel texts: one about the temple tax and one about rendering unto Caesar (Matt. 17:24–27; Matt. 22:21). Like other works on biblical themes by Larson, this painting combines dark humor, dramatic lighting, contorted figures, and what might be called narrative adventure. Viewers don’t encounter the biblical story they expect and are likely to feel that they (and the sacred texts) are being stretched or undermined. The coin in the fish’s mouth (Matt.