For many years in meditation,
where I get the first vision on my allegorical pictures,
I had seen a nude woman on a cross in a real crucifixion
scene. I wanted to do the painting as part of my series
Angel Dialogues. It was to show a woman in the ultimate
previous male sacrifice. The beginning of the painting
coincided with the Gulf War and the words of "pin-up" being
part of my thoughts and there had to be a face and body,
so it became Mae West impersonating Betty Grable who
was impersonating Marilyn Monroe who was impersonating
Madonna or vice versa.
The wooden cross partially
became replaced by a Cruise Missile. Subconsciously there
are things happening I am unaware of. I painted it consciously
to be a part crucifixion and I see the look of courage
in her eyes and tears of compassion because she is not
being hurt even thought the stigmata appears. This girl
cannot be pinned up or pinned down. She has already broken
loose and would dodge any spears heading her way. The
harpoonist to her right is all tangled up in legal fears.
The gold record above her head represents the thorniness
of dealing with a record company; her crown of thorns.
The face of Christ near her head is reminding her to
forgive them, they know not what they do, these would-be
persecutors, ranging from the crowds at her feet from
El Greco’s "The Judgement of Christ" to
the famous old bitter Grant Wood couple "American
Gothic." The oil paint tube attacked by his pitchfork
represents the man hating the first painting and definitely
hating this painting and probably hating all art, both
visual and performing. The irony in the window behind
them is their would-be great granddaughter warming up
to be the next Madonna.
The wisest face on the painting
is of the black man at her feet who must have seen a
similar action of a black hanging in the 20’s or
30’s. His eyes are saying "I can’t believe
they’re still doing it to their own."
The guardian angel to the
right is her angel Muse and inspiration for her music
and protecting her from any real harm from the crowds.
The hand above the angel is the hand of the artist, Ralph
Wolfe Cowan, trying to pull it all into focus. In that
area there is a goat trashing a document, probably a
marriage certificate.
Further up the steep mountain
to her magic castle of dreams, there is tough climbing
through the TV tube where she encountered a major rat.
The little girl in the school dress hanging on the cross
represents the pin-up girl as a school girl and she’s
screaming "I had not idea the climb would be so
high and so dangerous." The helicopters are major
protection for her magic castle as well as representing
the return of the soldiers. The dollar bill flying out
of the picture means the beginning of the great passage
from the third dimensional material world to the fourth
dimensional world of great spiritual wisdom. The whole
picture is the transformation to that dimension, true
wisdom and true love that shows in all the little figures.
The No. 4 on the cruise Missile
is the direction of the picture. The only moral of the
story would be "don’t cruise fallen angels,
they will still take you down with them" depicted
by the beautiful male angel on the left. The whole story
is as old as the original crucifixion and the partial
story of the great Joan of Arc. It is the perfect collaboration
of the best artist and the lady of the 90’s and
as the U.S.A. on the missile shows, it can only happen
in America.
