The Meaning

“Unveiled” is an illustration which expresses the possible human perception of spiritual dichotomy of heaven and hell through the redemption of the city.

Eye of God

The eye of God is looking down diagonally from the upper right upon the work of His Cross.

Human Souls

Many different human souls (symbolized by skulls and bones) are sacrificed along with His Son.

Tale of Two Cities

Below the eye of God, we see two cities. One in silver with illuminated yellow lights with a train headed towards the cross. The other is under the silver city, presented in green and black, with a hooded skull figure representing the reaper of death for those that do not believe or see the need for personal redemption.

New Life

There are heavenly hosts above the cross, playing instruments in worship for those who have received God’s redemption along with yellow bubbles which express new life for humans.

The Day of Death

Red lightning glows with yellow to signify the day of death of the Son for human redemption today.

This illustration is very closely related to Place of the Skull which was done ten years later and seems subconsciously inspired by Matthew 27:51, “At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” (NIV)

The Process

This was one of two oval shaped canvas’ that I have done with an oil medium. This was a very small piece (about twelve inches across), and I can remember how difficult it was to fit this spiritual concept inside the oval canvas. Most of this piece was sketched out with pencil before painting it, but not the heavenly hosts with musical instruments, or the shaded black and yellow background to the right of the cross, or the cloud and lightning with a red sky behind it.

I remember being encouraged by my friend Mher Khachatryan who was a fantastic artist from Armenia who painted illustrations on Armenian Genocide and who influenced me to do paintings such as this one. His dream was to move to New York City and display his work, and I am happy to say that he made his dreams come true and he is there today! I traded this painting for one of Mher’s before he left for New York, and I will value his piece and his friendship for the rest of my life.