The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone, Explained

Here's yet another psychologically stimulating painting by Dylan interpreter Daniel Botkin. Read Botkin's commentary below then click image to enlarge.

"The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone." The Hebrew text at the top of the parchment says emet, the Hebrew word for “truth.”

Emet is a combination of the first letter, the middle letter, and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. If you have only aleph + mem, you have the word em, “mother,” which is where life begins. If you have only mem + tav, you have the word met, “dead,” which is where life ends. Therefore emet, “truth,” is a blend of the beginning of life (em, “mother”) and the end of life (met, “dead”). This truth is our inconvenient truth. The two words em and met (read from right to left) appear below the word emet.

The alphabet above the baby is the Hebrew alphabet in its ancient and modern fonts. The alphabet below the baby is the Greek alphabet in its lowercase and uppercase forms.

The cursive Hebrew text around the innocent flesh of the baby in the amniotic sac is Isaiah’s prophecy, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. There shall be no end to the increase of his government and peace upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isa. 9:6f; 9:5f in Hebrew Bibles).

The painting is done in yellows and browns, but I painted one letter in Isaiah’s text bright pink and enlarged it to draw attention to it. That letter is a closed mem in the word l’marbeh, “to the increase.” A closed mem is supposed to be used only when it is the final letter in a word. If mem is at the beginning of a word or anywhere inside a word, it is written with a small opening in the lower left corner. (See how em and met and emet are written at the top of the parchment.) Yet Isaiah defied the rules of Hebrew orthography and wrote a closed mem in the prophecy of this special child. Why? See my article “The Mystery of the closed Mem” in the Article Archives at gatesofeden.online.

A silhouette of a pregnant virgin appears on the horizon in the upper right corner, below the constellation Virgo the Virgin. The cursive Hebrew text coming out from between the feet of Virgo and pointing toward the descending arm is the opening verse of Isaiah chapter 53, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

The silhouette of a cross on a hill appears on the horizon in the upper left corner, below the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder and Healer, who restrains Serpens, the Serpent who tries to obtain Corona, the crown that is worn by the one who rules. Ophiuchus’ foot crushes Scorpio the Scorpion, thus fulfilling Genesis 3:15.

To contrast the idea of innocent flesh on the bone, in the bottom left corner Galileo’s math book is thrown at the worthless Delilah, who sits laughing and holding scissors in her right hand and Samson’s seven locks of hair in her left hand as a trophy. The carnal Samson, blinded by his enemies, is forced to push the grindstone for the Philistines in Gaza.

In a nod to Leonard Cohen’s song "Hallelujah," Samson is also pictured tied to a kitchen chair above Delilah, as a precursor of King David’s fall when he was tempted by Bath-sheba. Also in a nod to Leonard Cohen’s song "Last Year’s Man," “the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled far past the stems of thumbtacks that still throw shadows on the wood.”

Satin Prints on 24” x 30” x 1.5” stretched canvas available, $285 plus shipping.

Related Links

An Introduction to the Story of Samson and Delilah

Daniel Botkin's Riddles for Fans of Bob Dylan: Riddles and Trivia All Rolled Into One

Symbols and Symbolism

In art history Symbolism was an actual movement in which pictorial means were used to convey allegorical meanings. Throughout history, however, artists have used symbols and symbolism, especially in religious iconography.

To illustrate the difference between symbolism and representational art, picture a cave drawing of several buffalo images with a dotted line crossing a bunch of wavy lines. This representational piece is telling people where the buffalo are and how to get there. (They are across the river.) If one of the buffalo has wings and is flying above the herd, it might be some kind of early symbolic expression. ("The gods granted me an opportunity to take one.") If there is a large tripod-like creature lifting one of the buffalo and a screeching noise being emitted with a beam of light coming out disintegrating the other buffaloes, then you are looking at an early telling of War of the Worlds. Later historians would then endlessly debate whether this was Realism or Fantasy.

All this to say that symbolism is as much a part of art as metaphors are to poetry. For example, in David Bowie's Is There Life On Mars? the line, "look at those cave men go" is not referring to cave men but to lowbrow brutes having it out in a bar fight, or possibly the alienated teenager is watching a movie of such. The words are not literal but rather metaphorical, as is Em Dickinson's line, "Hope is the thing with feathers" which Woody Allen turns around to indicate his own -- and modern man's -- existential alienation and despair with the title of his volume Without Feathers. Or he may mean he is exposing himself.

O.K., so this was a long intro to make a small point about my Lincoln paintings. The first painting, Blue Lincoln, was not really about Lincoln at all. I had read a quote somewhere that "you can't fight an international war and a civil war at the same time" and it resonated with me. I believe it was from the book Maximilian and Carlotta in which the U.S. could not defend Mexico against European incursion (a violation of the Monroe Doctrine) because it was in the throes of its own civil war. For me this was a perfect symbol of many lives today who are battling their own inner conflicts and have unresolved issues internally while simultaneously trying to carry on with their life purpose of service to the community, a cause or the world-at-large. Many people have been sidelined by internal conflicts who could be leaders of organizations in need of leadership.

The Lincoln image thus became such a symbol for me. The overarching internal conflict between good and evil, righteousness and temptation, left the president blue.

The painting Lincoln II has a brighter background, but his features are ashen. The subtitle, Portrait with One Dying Eye, is a reference to the line from Dylan's Hurricane. "The wounded guy looks up through his one dyin' eye, Says 'What'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy.'" The song is ultimately about injustice, as noted in the second to last verse. "To see him obviously framed couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game."

And so it is that presidents themselves become symbols. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech was not delivered in Arlington Cemetery, land that formerly belonged to Robert E. Lee, but rather at the Lincoln Memorial. Symbols have power. Symbols resonate.

I mention all these things with an end in mind. Thursday evening there will be more than a dozen art gallery openings and an all day gallery hop on Saturday. I'd like to encourage you to take to the streets and see a bit of all this creative energy that is emerging here. And as you engage the arts, whether the visual arts, music, poetry or theater, it can be a rewarding exercise to engage the work in a deeper way, look for threads that lead deeper into the mind of the artist or beyond to the culture-at-large.

Of course some art is simply what it is. Sometimes a sitar is simply a sitar.

Here's a link to the Duluth Art Institute page where you can scroll down to a PDF listing the galleries, with maps and locations. My work (no Lincolns, but several Dylans) will be on display at Goin' Postal in Superior, along with perhaps a dozen other artists. The Phantom Galleries Superior will be open that night as well. Plan your route and invite your friends. Drinks are on us.