Picture in Focus: "The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness" by Carl Dixon

November 8, 2020

Picture in Focus: "The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness" by Carl Dixon

Mississippi Folk Artist Carl Dixon presents another view of a modern day prophet in this week's featured artwork from the Sacred Art Pilgirm Collection, the mixed media on sculpted wood panel piece, The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness. The "wilderness" in this visual commentary on the well known passage from Isaiah 40:30 is a typical Ameican church, filled for Sunday worship. Decked out like a bearded biblical prophet, our "speaker of truth" is regarded as an unwelcome rabble-rouser by a congregation intent on hearing a message more to their liking from the preacher in the pulpit. Dixon's compelling image reminds us how contemporary communities of faith all too often serve as defenders of the status quo rather than as radical mountain-movers preparing the way for the coming of the Lord. (John Kohan)