This eye-catching painting shows a Pentecostal group in full action. Red and blue-purple colours, along with their complementary colours, green, orange and yellow, make for a very bright painting.
It appears as if the preacher at the front of the congregation has a baptismal ‘font’ or tub in front of him, and his elder is encouraging members of the congregation to come forward to be baptised with the Holy Spirit, and to be born again. The members are upstanding and have their arms waving in the air, expressing their joy at belonging to the group. They are singing and praising the Lord. Hallelujah.
The artist arranged the pews on the canvas diagonally and parallel, and placed the lectern at the front of the congregation, in the left third of the painting, to indicate its importance. This is where the Holy Bible rests. He placed a cross on the gothic window on the far wall. (Gothic art is synonymous with church architecture and originated in France around 1150 AD.)
The church is lined with blue carpet. In the liturgical context, the colour blue is the colour of hope.
This is a delightful painting, and the Pentecostal Experience is one that the artist must have witnessed, or experienced at some stage during his life.
The mood of the painting is a happy one.
Acrylic on Masonite, date unknown.
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