Exodus by Joseph Novak www.minimumbible.com
Ruth by Joseph Novak www.minimumbible.com
What happens when you mix an artist, a priest and a student? You get Joseph Novak and his striking Minimum Bible. Growing up in current times, it was very hard for me to feel any emotional attachment to the boring old pictures hung around the church. As expertly painted as they were, they still felt like something aged and stale. Stepping away from the conventional view of biblical events and images, the simplistic images from the Minimum Bible entice a fresh curiosity from people who would have passed by.
“The images and prints of this collection invite the viewer to consider the strange world of the Bible by stripping away the realism which dominates much of religious art; for a brief moment, to ignore the ubiquitous blonde-haired, blue-eyed portraits of Moses and Jesus and instead dwell on the symbolic word of Scripture. ”
Some of the Minimum Bible's 66 images are straightforward (such as EXODUS image above) and others are more complex (such as RUTH image above). But Joseph Novak wants to make clear that he does not intend for the Minimum Bible to replace the actual Bible.
“The Minimum Bible is not trying to replace the Bible. Rather, it serves as a sort of visual diving board back into the text.”