The Figures Were Gone

The figures were gone., 2021. Oil on canvas, 48 x 38”

This painting is in remembrance of a dream. I was floating up to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I was alone and it was night. Just the light glow of gas lamps lit the room. I drifted upwards, noticing the bays where Michelangelo painted the figures and they were all painted over white, as if someone had smashed the fresco away. I knew the bays of the ceiling and what figures were missing within them as I moved forward from Jonah onward, yet I felt the same power and presence as if the figures were there. Before beginning in oil, I studied the ceiling through drawings and worked to create an accurate depiction of Michelangelo's structure. My hope is to express the ephemeral nature of the presence I felt while dreaming the dream, and the fleeting moments that, once gone, leave behind.