The Weight of Symbols

The crucifix is one of the most recognisable images in human history. It is saturated with contradiction: love and violence, sacrifice and domination, hope and terror, unity and division. It holds tenderness and brutality in the same breath.

What fascinates me is not belief, but symbolism. How simple forms become vessels for immense emotional, cultural and historical weight. How they evolve beyond their origins and begin to shape behaviour, identity and power.

Across centuries, the crucifix has been both a source of comfort and a justification for cruelty. It has carried mercy and persecution, healing and conquest, compassion and control. These contradictions do not weaken the symbol – they intensify it.

In these paintings, I wanted to explore that tension. To strip away ornament and narrative, leaving only form, surface, erosion and residue. Oil and cold wax allow the image to feel both present and decaying, emerging and dissolving at once. The aged frames become part of that language, suggesting time, handling, reverence, damage and survival.

We live surrounded by symbols. Many of them older than our understanding of them. Some sacred, some political, some cultural. All capable of shaping thought and behaviour. My interest lies in examining that power quietly, without instruction, accusation or resolution.

These works are not statements. They are questions.

https://www.timmuddiman.com/2026