Wall Mural

Sometime during the first or second week of our stay in Bangkok, Cory had the idea of painting a three story high wall mural on our street. "Just something to brighten up the neighborhood," he explained. However, as guests in a foreign culture we don't want to just slap any Christian image up. Over the past 5 weeks much discussion, consideration and prayer has been put into what exactly could be painted--what would be acceptable to put up in a part of town full of Buddhists and Muslims. We may have found the answer.

About 30 years ago a Christian missionary commissioned a distinguished Thai artist to paint certain stories out of the book of Revelation. The artists had no exposure to western illustrations of Revelation; his art was to be strictly from Thai eyes and in the Buddhist style. Four distinct paintings were completed and delivered; unfortunately, though they were beautifully rendered with exquisite detail, only a handful of people have had the privilege of seeing them.

The paintings were an attempt to illustrate Christian themes in a Buddhist medium, but it managed to alienate both sides. Certain Christians complained that the Bible should not be illustrated in a Buddhist style, and a group of Buddhists actually filed a lawsuit claiming that the paintings had been stolen from their temples.

The paintings are now in the keeping of a wealthy Thai, Christian family. Two paintings, one of heaven and the other of the millennium after the 2nd coming, are in their home. The third depicts the resurrection of the evil at the end of the millennium, and can be found on the 6th floor in the school the family owns and operates. The forth portrays the second coming, and cannot be found; I have yet to see it.

Four distinct paintings were completed exquisitely, full of painstaking detail. Each painting tells a specific story, but within each are sub-narratives to be discovered. We spent a good amount of time going over the paintings inch by inch and finding more and more meaning in the illustrations. I felt sure that if we were going to paint a wall mural, it should look like this.

So as of right now, March 28, we still don’t even know if we’re going to attempt this project. We may want to try to copy one of the paintings as closely as possible, merely rearranging design elements to fit a vertical aspect ratio, or we may decide to illustrate something less overtly Christian and just emulate the style. Or we may not do anything at all. This would be a leviathan of an undertaking. I have very little experience with real paint and no experience with three story high canvases. Cory has done some wall murals so that is encouraging, but the logistics of making this happen are far beyond my knowledge. Please pray that if it is God’s will that we spend our time in Thailand this way, that he will open the doors and make this happen. I know for sure that it will be a miracle if God completes this project through us.

PS These quick snapshots do not give the art justice.