John Holston was born in 1944. He is a contemporary painter and engraver who focuses on the African American experience. The Elder was recently displayed at the All Stars Exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. John Holston’s body of work falls on a long continuum from realistic and detailed etchings to more abstracted paintings such as our subject today.

The power of this piece seems to be found in the simplification to geometric shapes we know as cubism; in the pervasive symmetry of the composition; and in the many neutral hues against a solemn blue field. Holston leaves us to speculate about the emotions of this subject who seems so bound in an implied proper and passive position with eyes that may betray resentment and pain. We may wonder if this man has spent a lifetime resigned to the demands of others, or to the demands of systemic injustice in times billed as free, or to both. This is the wonder of the visual image. It can take us to the heart of many matters if we only stop and look.

May our prayer be in part that we stop and look if even for a moment at the beauty, the design, the spacious questions that surround us. May we know the presence of God when we do.

Thanks be to the artists who show us the ordinary as exceptional and to the God who guides them. Amen.

In gratitude, faith and hope,

Sandy Prouty
Minister of Children and Families
Montview Church