Dark Mystery
Geno Rodriguez
2006
assemblage: heart, dry flower, brush, and small rusted nails
digital print: archival ink and paper
68.7 x 51 cm
credit: Courtesy of © Geno Rodriguez

THE UNSPEAKABLE

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is arguably the most tantalizing symbol in Christianity. But what does it mean? Its very nature as a symbol precludes its meaning being fully explained with words. If the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus could be articulated, its power and its need to exist would fade. From another tradition Lao Tzu taught in the Tao Te Ching, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”

Anyone who has stepped on a nail knows how painful and dangerous it can be. Here New York artist Geno Rodriguez uses rusty nails to pierce the symbolic heart of Jesus. The pain they inflict is palatable but the meaning of this pain is ultimately inexplicable.

The artist, whose fascination with the Sacred Heart of Jesus extends back into his childhood, echoes these sentiments.

I was brought up to be a Catholic. The best part of Catholic school was the stories about saints and miracles. Then as I grew older, I started to question the validity of these stories. I saw them as myths. To me the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was only second in interest to accounts of the crucifixion. Both are about human sacrifice. Both are reminiscent of the human sacrifices of ancient biblical societies and the Mayans and Aztecs.  A few years ago I started a series that included the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary, St. Peter, St. Sebastian, and Malcolm X. They all merited "sacred hearts." This particular image was the first in the series, and I have yet to explain to myself what it means. I guess, like so much about Catholicism, it’s a "Mystery."

The first line of the 13th century poem Dreifaligkeitslied (Trinitarian Hymn) by an anonymous English monk avers, “It is—but nobody know what It is.” Even one of the 20th century’s most ultra-rationalist, British philosopher A. J. Ayer, has poignantly observed, “The given is immune from error but only at the price of being ineffable."

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