Daniel Mitsui is an American artist who is 34 year old. He is of Japanese descent, and bases a lot of artwork off his heritage. He is Roman Catholic, and has received commissions from the Vatican to do certain works. Ink drawing are his specialty, like this piece of art.

The ink drawing shows a representation from a Japanese perspective. The wedding occurring in the background is clearly a Japanese marriage ceremony. I think the main goal is to show that all are welcome in worshiping God and seeing Christ’s glory. It can be directed at Japanese people to think about becoming Christians, where the religion isn’t widespread, because anyone is welcome in God’s Kingdom. The artist puts Jesus in the foreground to draw our attention to what he is doing. Everyone around has no idea that he is performing a miracle, but we do. It is interesting that there are so few people at the ceremony. The artist incorporates many other representations of other biblical passages in his work. The image on the screen on the left represents Adam and Eve in Genesis. The artist did this intentionally because many people draw a connection between Adam and Eve and the sacrament of marriage. He likely puts the screen right behind those being wed intentionally for this reason, because they are so closely linked. The 7 days of creation are represented by the art done on the water jars. It’s possible to compare the structure of God’s seven days of creation with the first seven days of Jesus’ ministry in John. Is this what the artist is trying to show? The other screen behind Jesus and Mary’s conversation has St. Augustine’s six ages of the world. The artist’s portrayal of Mary is interesting to me. First off, Mary isn’t mentioned by name in the Book of John. To me, it seems like the artist is giving more significance to her than the text would support. He draws her with a halo which supports the artist’s catholic religion, where the catholic church gives Mary extra significance over Protestant churches. An interpretive discussion can be made about whether Mary was asking Jesus for a miracle or whether she was just desperate when she told Jesus, “We have no wine.” Based off this piece, I’d have to say she asked expecting a miracle. Mary looks calm and not distressed in any way, and Jesus looks like someone who is willing and able to help. It looks like Jesus has crosses on his sleeves, which is very likely foreshadowing. The wedding at Cana is where Jesus first shows some of his glory, but he doesn’t fully show his glory until his resurrection after death on a cross. The artist is linking these two different moments of glory. This drawing has so many different details, but these are what we took out of it.

David Rupp

St. Olaf 2020