Diamerizo (Blue)
In ancient Greek, diamerizo refers to partitioning or distributing and suggests both fragmentation and multiplication. The Diamerizo paintings continue my abstracted portraiture with the addition of ambiguous forms resembling fire, birds, or tongues that descend onto the figures’ heads. These “cloven tongues, like as of fire” refer to a moment when angels endow the apostles with a total comprehension of language, to be used to evangelize or proselytize, depending on individual perspective. The abstracted depictions of this supernatural transfer of power, appearing in Byzantine paintings of the Pentecost, are the inspiration for this work. The Diamerizo paintings draw parallels between this tale and the sudden powers of communication across time, space, and language that current technology makes possible. As with the global spread of Christianity, we are likely at an early stage of cultural realignment, brought about by the so-called large language model of machine learning. - Jacob Feige
