JACOB FOSSUM / IF I COULD HIE TO KOLOB

This collection of paintings focuses primarily on a homosexual perspective of Mormon Mythology of life after death and what we as human beings (specifically gay males) take with us from one experience into the next. The series title—If I Could Hie to Kolob—is a reference to the Mormon hymn If You Could Hie to Kolob. In the Mormon religion, Kolob is believed to be the planet closest to where God resides. In my series of oil paintings on wood panels I contrast the homosexual male dating aesthetic (these images were found on gay dating sites) with specific rooms located within Mormon Temples. The Temple rooms represent different stages of spiritual progression and Heaven. Both visual references relate in that they are sacred/private and yet accessible, while also contrasting in their implied moral tension.