Bibles, encaustic wax, plastic
15.5 x 8.5 x 5.5 in
39.4 x 21.6 x 14.0 cm
2003
Richard Humann • Lift Me Higher • Bibles, encaustic wax, plastic • 15.5 x 8.5 x 5.5 in • 2003
Ten Bibles are stacked one upon another and coated in encaustic wax, transforming familiar religious texts into a unified sculptural form. Words from a poem written by Richard Humann, laser-cut from plastic, are arranged along the top, fore, and bottom edges of the books. The text presents an atheist’s perspective on religion, questioning its extravagance, its phantasmagorical promises, the unquestioning adherence it can demand, and its assurance of everlasting life.
The wax coating obscures the individual books, merging them into a single mass and suggesting how religious doctrine can accumulate into an established system of belief. Against this surface, the poem introduces a critical voice that challenges the authority and certainty of religious tradition. The laser-cut words become part of the object itself, placing language in direct contact with the texts and institutions it questions.
Yet the work does not end with rejection. Beneath its skepticism lies an acknowledgment of the emotional bonds that sustain faith. The desire to believe may arise not only from dogma or the promise of an afterlife, but also from love, care, and devotion to another person. Humann recognizes the contradictions inherent in accepting a belief system whose claims he questions while understanding the human affection that can make such belief meaningful.
The work occupies the tension between disbelief and compassion. It challenges the extravagant promises and unquestioned authority of religion without dismissing the people who find comfort in it. Ultimately, Humann considers faith not simply as a question of truth or falsehood, but as a deeply human phenomenon—one sustained, at times, by the desire to care for and remain connected to those we love.
Richard Humann • Lift Me Higher • Bibles, encaustic wax, plastic • 15.5 x 8.5 x 5.5 in • 2003
Richard Humann • Lift Me Higher • Bibles, encaustic wax, plastic • 15.5 x 8.5 x 5.5 in • 2003
Richard Humann • Lift Me Higher • Bibles, encaustic wax, plastic • 15.5 x 8.5 x 5.5 in • 2003
Richard Humann • Lift Me Higher • Bibles, encaustic wax, plastic • 15.5 x 8.5 x 5.5 in • 2003
Poem for Lift Me Higher:
Lift me higher
to a place not weighed down
by gravity
by reality
by hopelessness
Lift me higher
to the center of your mind
center of your heart
where the end is the beginning
darkness the light
and forgiveness
the reward
Help me up
carry me forward
in your brotherly act
of love
concern
and attrition
a friendly action
a sibling desire
a parental response
to a childish fear
Time does not go forward here
where I stand
in the end
it stops
when it is over
forever marking the
moment
that all becomes nothing
experience becomes history
consciousness fades
and slips
into a long
deep
sleep
Lift me up
take me from fact
and place me in fiction
where words have meaning
and faith
goes unquestioned
Lift me higher
grab hold of my hand
help me aboard
the ship of salvation
pull me out
of the treacherous waters
of certainty and doom
sail me to your world
beyond the world
above my world
with shrouded sails
lashed to the cross
of the carpenter's son
Introduce me to the savior
who has caused me pain
and the pain of others
dear to me
and who has saved no one
that I can remember
of recent history
Help me to see
I will lose the argument
willingly
help me to speak
the argument
that I cannot win
in any way
If I choose to evolve
I will perish in the end
to nothingness
if I choose to create
I can possibly survive
the unsurvivable
the inescapable
the unthinkable
Bring me on board
before the mast
and guide me to heaven
Photo credits: J.B. Grant / Richard Humann Studio