Out of the Darkness, the Lord Gave Us Light

Offering speculation on the birth of the universe, Dial created Out of the Darkness, the Lord Gave Us Light, from 2003. Here, he envisions the cataclysmic moment when the world exploded into existence. In this rendering, matter is still in flux as pieces of the earth’s green turf collide with chunks of purple sky against the shattered blackness out of which they came. As in many of Dial’s metaphysical dramas, the cosmos is poised between order and chaos, as if still trying to puzzle itself together. The symbolic play of light against dark is a further allegory for the evolution of human consciousness and its continual strivings amid the shadows and ambiguities of life. —Joanne Cubbs