The story behind "forgiveness"

Art Business News, August, 2004 by Joe Jancsurak

MINNEAPOLIS -- What may one day become a major work of religious art was recently featured on a Minneapolis television station, KSTP Channel 5.

Minnesota (Chanhassen) artist Rick Kelley and the events that led to his creation of "The Forgiveness of Sin," were the subject of a recent documentary that aired on the show, "On the, Road with Jason Davis" on KSTP, Channel 5. Kelley's painting shows a crucified Christ rising from the cross.

"When I was about 14 years old," says Kelley, "I remember seeing a painting of the crucifixion of Jesus at church our family went to. The angle was from down below looking up at Christ with dark clouds forming. What was so striking about this painting was that it looked like, after painting this man so perfectly, the artist masked out the body and then, as if the artist had become angry, whipped blue, red and purple paint across the body of Christ. That left a 33-year impression on me to one day create my own version of the crucifixion."

While Kelley's image of the painting is crystal clear, the painting never existed, according to his morn and family members. This vivid memory of a painting that never was, coupled with other experiences prompted Kelley to create "The Forgiveness of Sin."

From 9/11 to "Forgiveness"

After the events of September 11, 2001, Kelley painted the first of a three-painting series called the "American Freedom" series. The series was a huge success, with tens of thousands of dollars in sales going to the "Disaster Relief Fund."

It was the third painting in the series titled, "Reflections of Freedom," that convinced Kelley that God was trying to tell him something. The painting shows an eagle soaring and two rays of light coming back down from the heavens (from the two sent up where the Twin Towers stood) over a mountain then hitting a lake below where the mountain is reflected. The reflection turns into the American Flag, "as if to say," explains Kelley, "that God is reflecting the lights back down on us and saying thank you for the love you are showing each other."

Three weeks after this painting was released in prints, a gallery owner called to say that everyone loved the new print, and were talking about the angel shown in the sky. What surprised the artist was that he never intended to include an angel in the painting.

"I had a 'Reflections of Freedom' brochure at my desk," says Kelley. "I looked at it and between the sun bursts; the edging of the light on the clouds; and the rays of light, there was the shape of an angel.

After a wave of goose bumps hit me, I told the gallery owner that part was not planned."

Kelley says some felt the angel in the painting was "delivering God's message of thanks. For me, I felt it was maybe a little more."

Subsequent conversations and events convinced Kelley that he needed to paint the crucifixion. While driving through Indiana around sundown, Kelley saw and photographed "the most spectacular array of sunrays" he had ever seen, though at the time it didn't seem to relate to anything happening in his life.

The next day, he asked his room if she remembered the painting of the crucifixion that he recalled seeing at their church as a young boy. His morn told him that the painting did not exist, adding with a smile that it was time for him to do his painting.

Soon after this exchange, Kelley ordered the MP3 disc of the book, "The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ," which helped inspire the Mel Gibson film, "The Passion of the Christ," which in turn inspired Kelley

"On March 16" says Kelley, "I drove to Florida. The MP3 disc was my companion. It kept me alert and fascinated almost the entire 1,750 miles.

"The book was written by a monk in a monastery who documented the visions (of Christ) seen by a nun, Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich," Kelley explains. As Kelley listened to the disc and the recounting of Christ's moment of death, "the sun broke the horizon and hit me in the face. Just to my right was a crescent moon as if it had just eclipsed. Well, that was it ... I knew exactly what I had to paint."

As Kelley painted "Forgiveness," reporter Jason Davis filmed and interviewed Kelley for the documentary.

"When I got to the body of Christ, I had problems," says Kelley. "The face went smooth. I drew it, and then I changed it so Jesus' head was down a little and to the left. His face then pleased me, but his body appeared too chiseled. I struggled with the arms and torso, so I went on the Internet. A week after finishing his face, I found a Web site under the Shroud of Turin, which is believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus with his image on it. The artist had manipulated the shape of the cloth and shadows, resulting in an image of Jesus' face. Under this image he wrote, if the shroud really shows Jesus, then this image is as close as possible to what he really looked like. I printed it out, walked over to my painting and to nay shock it was the same face."

Then, to get the body right, Kelley decided he needed a model. So, he took two belts, strapped them to his wrists, and had a colleague tie them to the crossbeams in his studio. He then lowered himself, stretching his arms, and the colleague shot a digital photo at the best angle for the painting.