Above all, I wanted to reconnect the letter to the hand. Medieval Irish monks, who meticulously illuminated Christian manuscripts and created masterpieces like The Book of Kells and The Lindesfarne Gospels, provided my main inspiration. I also found myself looking to the prints of Albrecht Durer and William Blake. Other more contemporary influences include the stark graphic D.I.Y. flyer art from the Hardcore music scene and Ralph Steadman’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas illustrations for Hunter Thompson (who, like Bob Dylan, admitted the literary influence of Revelation). Both the Hardcore scene and Steadman often merged text and image with aggressive energy.

My starting point was a facsimile of a Geneva Bible that I found in a University of North Carolina Greensboro library. The texture of the letter pressed words and the richness of the 15th century characters immediately interested me. I began the project by scanning all of the pages of Revelation and a few other Gospel pages for practice. I rushed into the artwork with gusto, assuming I could finish the project in a month (an estimation that was off by two or three years). I set up a blog to update friends on the course of my progress. Sometimes many weeks went by before I had another page to upload. Sometimes I simply uploaded a sketch to offset my frustration at the slow pace of work.

I envisioned myself as working in the vein of a 21st century manuscript illuminator, pouring over drawings and text in intricate detail while using contemporary digital technology to reach a final Chapter. The drawings and prints were collaged by hand and then scanned and arranged in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. My materials and methods included everything from splattered India ink to drawing intricate looping lines or cross-hatched beasties. Sometimes I would smear a found image across a photocopy machine in the manner of Sigmar Polke or scribble a ball point pen on top of a photograph.

The Geneva Bible
When I first encountered the photocopied 1557 print of the Geneva Bible it seemed like it was written in a foreign language. The imperfect and irregular ink printing made the words seem even more distant. The type was somewhat familiar but some of the letters were scrambled or an additional “e” would append the word (the letter “s” was replaced with an “f” so that “saw” became “fawe”) . The “Son of God” became the “Sonne of God” and the vision of the Whore of Babylon was a “great marueile” (that is “marvel” in case you missed it).

The interesting thing is that I quickly found myself reading the text with ease. After getting past some of the antiquated lettering, the Geneva text is surprisingly direct and readable. In fact, the text seemed less impenetrable than some of the same passages in the King James Bible even though the Geneva Protestant translation predates the KJB by over 50 years. To put it in some context, the Geneva Bible was the version read by William Shakespeare and John Donne and carried on the Mayflower to America. .

The Artist
Jym Davis works in traditional painting and drawing mediums as well as digital art and video. In addition to creating music videos for Sufjan Stevens’ label Asthmatic Kitty Records and Three Cat Studio, he is a co-founder of Interlace Video, a music video collective. His video art has been featured in shows across the United States and Europe, including shows at the University of California at Irvine, The University of Thessoloniki in Greece, and the Outvideo project in Russia. Jym is also the recipient of Fellowships and Grants including of a North Carolina Arts Grant for his 2006 short film “Nocturne”.

In addition to his career as a working artist, Jym is also teaches art. He has taught at his alma-mater The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Forest University. He is currently Professor of Art at Reinhardt College where he instructs painting and printmaking. In addition to teaching Fine Art, he recently founded Reinhardt’s first digital art program.