Rabodzeenko, Prodigal Son, 2006
Encountering the Prodigal Son in the Art of Andrei Rabodzeenko
Reflection
1) What is the scene depicted in this painting? What are the obvious evidences that the painting depicts the parable
of the Prodigal Son?
2) What is the artist trying to convey in the appearance of the prodigal? How do you interpret the staff and the
satchel?
3) Notice the other (odd) symbols in the painting. Do you have any ideas regarding the meaning of the tree, the
bagpipe, the beetle-like figure pouring liquid from a jug into the mouth of a serpent emerging from underground?
5) What about the black bird and especially the pigs, trodding on a closed book and rooting in an empty trough?
What do these images suggest?
6) How would you describe the overall mood of the painting? What is the attitude in the mind of the prodigal?
Response
Write a short essay sharing your interpretation of the painting or write a short meditation on the meaning of the
parable as illustrated by this painting.
An Interpretation ~
Andrei Rabodzeenko's 2006 work entitled "Prodigal Son" presents an obvious moment from the parable of Jesus--the Prodigal Son is tending the pigs at the depths of his lostness in the far country. But the surrounding symbolism is anything but obvious. What symbols do you see in the painting and do you have any idea what they signify? It might help to know a little bit about the Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch whose influence is clearly very strong in this an other of Rabodzeenko's paintings.
We begin with the central figure, the prodigal. His clothes are typically ragged, his hat reminiscent of the late medieval/early Renaissance era. He carries a staff and a satchel, either the tools of his trade (pig herder) or implements readied for the journey home. Why only one shoe? It was a common artistic symbol of poverty.
In the background stands the stump of a barren tree, suggesting the desolation of his existence in the far country. Sexual symbols (the jug suggesting a vagina and the bagpipes suggesting a penis and testicles) suggest the depravity of his vacuous and immoral life. The strange beetle-like creature empties the jug into the mouth of a serpent emerging from the underworld (a symbol of hell?). One pig trods on a closed book, symbolizing a rejection of knowledge and wisdom, while the other pigs, symbols of uncleanness, root in an empty trough. The artist's initials mark the book. Finally, a bird, a coal-tit, twists and turns in the air above him, a symbol of the lack of direction characterizing his life.
So much is going on in the painting, there are so many baffling symbols, that we need to force ourselves to return to the prodigal himself. Is he staring down in weary discouragement at his plight? Or is he quietly resolving to leave this depraved existence behind? Does he bear the tools of a trade he has no way of escaping? Or has he already prepared himself with walking stick and travel bag for the long difficult journey home? Is there any chance that the tree is the "stump of Jesse" (Isaiah 11) from which the shoot of David (the Messiah) will emerge to deliver God's people?
Reflection
1) What is the scene depicted in this painting? What are the obvious evidences that the painting depicts the parable
of the Prodigal Son?
2) What is the artist trying to convey in the appearance of the prodigal? How do you interpret the staff and the
satchel?
3) Notice the other (odd) symbols in the painting. Do you have any ideas regarding the meaning of the tree, the
bagpipe, the beetle-like figure pouring liquid from a jug into the mouth of a serpent emerging from underground?
5) What about the black bird and especially the pigs, trodding on a closed book and rooting in an empty trough?
What do these images suggest?
6) How would you describe the overall mood of the painting? What is the attitude in the mind of the prodigal?
Response
Write a short essay sharing your interpretation of the painting or write a short meditation on the meaning of the
parable as illustrated by this painting.
An Interpretation ~
Andrei Rabodzeenko's 2006 work entitled "Prodigal Son" presents an obvious moment from the parable of Jesus--the Prodigal Son is tending the pigs at the depths of his lostness in the far country. But the surrounding symbolism is anything but obvious. What symbols do you see in the painting and do you have any idea what they signify? It might help to know a little bit about the Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch whose influence is clearly very strong in this an other of Rabodzeenko's paintings.
We begin with the central figure, the prodigal. His clothes are typically ragged, his hat reminiscent of the late medieval/early Renaissance era. He carries a staff and a satchel, either the tools of his trade (pig herder) or implements readied for the journey home. Why only one shoe? It was a common artistic symbol of poverty.
In the background stands the stump of a barren tree, suggesting the desolation of his existence in the far country. Sexual symbols (the jug suggesting a vagina and the bagpipes suggesting a penis and testicles) suggest the depravity of his vacuous and immoral life. The strange beetle-like creature empties the jug into the mouth of a serpent emerging from the underworld (a symbol of hell?). One pig trods on a closed book, symbolizing a rejection of knowledge and wisdom, while the other pigs, symbols of uncleanness, root in an empty trough. The artist's initials mark the book. Finally, a bird, a coal-tit, twists and turns in the air above him, a symbol of the lack of direction characterizing his life.
So much is going on in the painting, there are so many baffling symbols, that we need to force ourselves to return to the prodigal himself. Is he staring down in weary discouragement at his plight? Or is he quietly resolving to leave this depraved existence behind? Does he bear the tools of a trade he has no way of escaping? Or has he already prepared himself with walking stick and travel bag for the long difficult journey home? Is there any chance that the tree is the "stump of Jesse" (Isaiah 11) from which the shoot of David (the Messiah) will emerge to deliver God's people?
