HSU Insider

Geresene

• By Dave Coffield
• Posted October 6, 2006 3:14 PM
• 0 Comments

When HSU’s Steve Neves, assistant professor of art, was asked by the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council to produce a work for public display in Abilene, he was intrigued by the opportunity. The council didn’t specify a topic or theme, so Neves chose one that had special meaning to him.

The Biblical account of Jesus’ sojourn among the Geresenes, told in Luke 8:26-38, is an account of Jesus’ compassion for a demon-possessed man. The wretched man had, in fact, so many demons that when Jesus asked the demon’s name, the man replied “legion.� Knowing they would be removed from the man, the demons asked that they be allowed to go into a nearby heard of swine. Jesus obliged and the pigs ran down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.

Neves has been intrigued by this story since he first heard it as a child, “It is full of drama, mercy, and violence, all things that I find interesting. I was a little concerned it would not receive approval.�

It’s a story worth sharing, “Everyone struggles with their own ‘demons,’ and I want viewers to realize that Christ is willing to free them of this burden. I also hope to remind people that Christ is not merely passive and docile, but incredibly powerful and active,� says Neves.

The sculpture, named “Geresene� is currently on display at Everman Park on North 1st Street, near the intersection with Pine. The work depicts demons, leaving the terrified body of an obviously tortured soul, transmuting into the bodies of pigs, and falling half submerged into the water. The sculpture is oddly reminiscent of the power found in the tormented creatures of late Gothic painter Hieronymus Bosch, coupled with the urgency in the works of German Expressionist Edvard Munch. The effect is powerful.

Neves completed much of the work before moving it to the display site, “I first welded rebar to form a skeleton, or sorts. Then I stuffed the large cavities with plastic bags full of trash. Over this went several layers of chicken wire,� once assembled, he applied “handfuls of wet cement,� to finish the work.

Neves is among a small group of sculptors asked to produce a work that will be on display for a minimum of two years. At the end of this time they select a single work to purchase for permanent display. Abilene artists have produced work for the exhibit before, but this is the first time two local artists were asked to participate. Neves currently has a large sculpture, entitled “Tourist� on display at Buffalo Bayou Park in downtown Houston.