Gareth Sansom Looking for God in abstract art

My painting interrogates the idea that God may or may not be present in any situation. Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The seventh seal has a returning knight playing chess with the Grim Reaper whilst seeking evidence that God exists. Ultimately the film asserts there will be no proof of God’s existence forthcoming. I haven’t attempted to examine any of this literally, but I do include some clues about the painting’s intentions – six pilgrims, six faces, INRI [a Latin inscription translated as ‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews’] and ‘faith’ – which may conjure up ideas about my own mortality at age 80, or may be seen as red herrings within an abstract puzzle.

Gareth Sansom, 2020