Post-tribulation Rapture or Seventh Horseman of Apocalypse
Seven's horseman of apocalypses artwork in no way is an illustration to the Great Tribulation and Rapture doctrine of Christian eschatology. It is rather an attempt to visualize an possible emotional impact of a similar event in someone’s life regardless any religious connotation. Christianity visual and theological attributes and parallels that you see are only expressive delivery vehicles of the concept which are familiar to many. There are numerous artworks depicting notoriously famous Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. Which are symbolizing pestilence, war, famine, and death. They are a part of the doctrine which described in details by John of Patmos in his Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. Followers and scholars are still arguing if all these events have already happened or they are coming in the conceivable future. Earth’s history has been seeing many wars, degradation, and other disasters, but none of them was as devastating as the one that will come in the End of Times.
Four Horsemen of Apocalypse are a surrealistic vision, a result of four broken seals of the scroll in God's hands. However, the scroll is sealed with more seals. There are seven of them. The opening of all seals marks the Second Coming of Christ other known as the judgment day and the beginning of Kingdom of God. The fifth and sixth apocalyptic riders bring more cataclysmic events such as economic collapse, natural devastations, etc. The break of seventh seal does not bring a horse rider, it brings seven angels with trumpets. And the sound of seventh trumpet would supposed to announce the arrival of the final judgment followed by heavenly peace on earth. However, I have decided to depict this angel as an allegorical rider to be consistent with the previously used analogy. Post-tribulation Rapture event is among other jubilations, a resurrection of dead believers and rapture of living believers in Jesus Christ at the end of times. I describe a simplified version of quite a convoluted Biblical narration of relatively straightforward events. But, it is what it is.
I think it is safe to assume that apocalyptic horses are a symbol of speedy delivery carriage, only known to people two thousand years ago. They have nothing to do with the catastrophes they bring. That is why the horse combined with a stylized vortex of sound wave appears on the picture. They are breaking free throughout the aged neoclassical archway and from the surreal and anxious overtone of the sunset landscape. In a firework like explosion, they are bringing a message of something majestically new and grandeur that comes to replace the gloomy atmosphere of deprivation and depression. The dancing or waltzing, fragile female figurine on the top of horse’s saddle is not an angel per se, but rather a spirit, content of the conveying message of rejoice. The water coming from the arch gate will nourish dried out land to anew flourishing. The blown away monk with a giant cross represents something that belongs to the past and has no place in the future. My prime objective of this image was a combination of realistic and geometrical optical illusion effect. The picture might be viewed as somewhat unsettling and yet uplifting, balancing on the verge of despair and optimism. All things considered, one may interpret the picture as visualization of a glimpse of hope that comes after a long period of nightmares.
Software used: 3ds Max®, Adobe Photoshop®, Adobe Illustrator®, Photo Stock
George Grie, September 2019
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Post-tribulation Rapture or Seventh Horseman of Apocalypse