A wonderful picture and one of my more favorite works of Christian art which uses simplicity to bring out incredible levels of spirituality from the beholder. At first glance the work in question seems quite simple but upon further inspection of the finer details the viewer realizes the work is anything but simple. We notice the human arm reaching up from a cloudy haze the fingers blindly grasping begging for help. On one level it represents the blindness of humanity and how it fails to comprehend the deep mystery that is God. On another level it serves to demonstrate how humanity relies on Christ and only Christ for its salvation. The emotions brought out by these levels of spiritual comprehension serves to humble the observer making him/her realize how frail and dependent life truly is when compared to the vastness that is God.
The arm above represents Christ Himself grasping the arm that is blind humanity pulling it out of the haze of ignorance upwards to salvation. Upon closer inspection we see the arm of Christ tense with bulging veins and well defined musculature. This to brings out many levels of spiritual thought and emotions to the viewer. It emphasizes the very might of God being able to pull all of humanity out of its self imposed ignorance. On another level it makes the viewer realize just how powerful the Holy Spirit is and how it interacts with humanity. The viewer cannot miss the nail wound on Christs arm and is immediately reminded of the sacrifice Christ chose to undertake to buy our salvation with His blood. A very powerful emotion is hammered home with this realization and the viewer is left both saddened and awed by the love God had for humanity as well as how grievous the sin of humanity was that only the blood of the Son could wipe away its tint on the human soul.
Another interesting little detail of note is how the artist Garrett Walker chose not to represent the nail wounds of Christ on the hand but instead on the wrist. Although Christ was the son of God He chose to manifest Himself in the body of a mortal man. Traditionally the churches of the world have depicted the crucifixion of Christ with the nails piercing His hands. This of coarse has been proven to be a myth as a human body could not be suspended from a cross by nails to the hand without the weight of the body causing the hands to tear away from the cross. A very wonderful piece of work from Garrett Walker that I think will last the test of time and impact future art lovers in the future ages.
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