In the summer of 2006, Anita told me about this artist Chirstopher Hauck. I mean, she told me he was an artist and he lived in Atlanta and that one of the lawyer sin her firm had a painting of his in their office. She also said that he was moving his studios and was trying to sell off a lot of his art to make the move easier (I also assume just to sell it to pay bills).
So that weekend we took our 4 and 5 year old to a up-and-coming area of Atlanta we had never been to before. We got a bit lost but finally found a door which led to stairs which led to a second floor loft where Hauck displayed his works. I remember the paintings of figures, images of people in bright colors – and of the abstract works. You can still see a lot of it on his site at www.christopherhauck.com.
We must have been there more than two hours. Anita found a piece that she liked, but she was torn. She hadn’t planned to spend that much on a painting but felt it was worth it, so she was not comfortable offering Hauck less money. I pushed her both ways, first to offer less money, but she felt strongly that he didn’t deserve less. So then I convinced her that it wasn’t the money that mattered. It was what she received from the art. After sitting in the car with the kids for another 45 minutes, she finally came out and placed the art int he back of the Pathfinder.
Now this was the fourth piece of art was bought for over the fireplace. The others were lovely prints of leaves or meadows of red flowers. But this was it. This was her piece, an original work of art that spoke to her.
I hated it. I mean, I preferred several other paintings Hauck had done, but she was dead set on this one. The reds did match out wall color, but I just didn’t see it. She would sit and stare at it. I have no idea what was running through her mind.
I started at it and it didn’t work for me. I told people that it reminded me of Hell with all the stark reds and blacks, but the green and blue and brown was too earthy. The colors simply didn’t fit the theme. I could not figure it out.
A couple of months after Anita died, I was sitting on the couch, staring at it again. Somehow, it all clicked. Maybe it was my circumstances, I don’t know. But “Abstract No. 3″ was then dubbed “Hell on Earth”. You see, the natural world is full of green and blue and brown and all the bright colors of the rainbow. But Satan and man have corrupted this world, so it is covered with the red and black of Hell’s fire and ash. This is the true nature of this world: the beautiful world God created disfigured by sin and death.
It may sound kind of macabre, but it’s a big relief to me to have it settled in my mind. And the painting reminds me that I live in a fallen world.
