Sidney Hinds

PORTRAITS OF EVIL

Satan, Mammon, Lucifer, Beelzebub. The Devil takes many forms and guises in the modern world, both in religion and popular culture. This multiplicity of form has been the case ever since the Devil began to appear in Christian artwork, and it has resulted in a figure who is elusive in visual description as well as theological purpose. My thesis paper explores the appearance of the Devil in different contexts within western European Christian art, and the motivations that have shaped the different physical traits and associated imagery that are present within these artworks. The source of all sin and wickedness wields little real power in most Christian art, and the extent to which his form changes from artist to artist and theme to theme is what gives rise to the vast array of Devil types that exist today. Through this multitude of Devils produced in a secular context for entertainment and other decidedly non-Christian purposes, the theological role of the Devil as a force of privation, or lack of virtue, has been diluted. My thesis exhibition therefore is an attempt to illustrate the repugnant nature of the Devil without relying on a representation of the Devil as a visibly accessible being.

SECTOR C: Art Practice and Technology

ADVISERS: Larry Silver (ARTH) | Sharka Hyland (FNAR)