Page 27 - Arts Management Magazine Future Issue

In Paradise, a dramatic composition with tiered Biblical scenes in the same painting, Omiros masterfully
depicts both the supernatural and the natural in one image, as Raphael did in Transfiguration, separated by
the River of Life. Throughout the lower half of the painting, he effectively storyboards the entire trajectory
of the creation, temptation, fall, expulsion, and ultimately, the restoration of Adam and Eve. Just as a Cubist
would seek to compress every facet of a subject into two dimensions, so Omiros distills every stage of the
human narrative into one canvas, proving himself not only a master storyteller, but one with a vision outside
time and space itself.

Centered within these vignettes of Adam and Eve, we see a transparent oval containing Jesus and his earthly
ministry of healing, reconciliation and atonement. The oval symbolizes the perfection of the egg, sustaining
all that is necessary for life, or spiritual life. The striking white of Christ’s robe here sets him apart from all
the rest. With just a few strokes of the brush, Omiros distills what Mark says of the transfigured Christ: “His
clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.”