Assumpta

Neshama (Divine Breath)

Medium: Acrylic

Dimensions: 832.5 x 666 x 832.5 inches

Year: 2026

Starting Bidding Price: $200

Neshama poem 

Take us back,  

back to the beginning—  before the noise,  the striving,  before the forgetting.

When the earth was formless…  void…  and darkness rested upon the face of the deep.

And yet—  even there…!  He was.

The Spirit of God…  hovering.

Not distant.  Hovering.

Waiting.

Because even in emptiness,  God carries intention.

There is something about Him hovering—  not in hesitation,  but in wonder.

As though He stood before it  like an Artist before a canvas.

Because God did not just see emptiness.

He saw a canvas.

Not blank in lack—  but full of capacity.

Capacity to hold.  Capacity to become.  Capacity to carry beauty  that had not yet been spoken.

He saw hope  where there was nothing.

He saw vision  where there was void.

He saw beauty  before beauty had a name.

---And isn’t that like Him? Because even as humans,  

we turn away  from what does not look good.

We leave the bruised fruit,  the broken pieces,  the things that seem beyond saving.

But God—

He turns ashes  into beauty.

Artists we think like him. beauty in everything we create, it all started from him 

---So when He looked at the void,  He did not see an ending.

He saw a beginning.He saw something He could build.

---So He spoke.So what He saw  may come to life.

Plain and void—  yet an Artist sees something else.

And when God speaks—  light does not argue.  Darkness does not resist.  Creation does not hesitate.

Light answered. “Let there be.” And there was.

Everything became His masterpiece.

Organized in order.  Placed things above and beneath. Structured with intention.

He told the sun  when to rise  and when to set.

So the next time you say  God did not create this world—  

think again.

Because this magnificent world  is His masterpiece.

And there is no imitation here. No accident.  No randomness.

Only intention.  Only design.  Only the hand of a Creator  

who saw beauty  before it existed.

---

Do you understand the power of that voice?

The same voice  that separated waters,  that called forth land,  

that placed the sun,  that told time where to stand…

That same voice  formed man. Adam 

First He was just clay shaped beautifully, and perfectly designed

Yet he was still dead, no different from the dust he was made of

Until—

Artwork Story:

Neshama is a Hebrew word meaning “breath,” the divine breath of God that gives life. This piece reflects the moment Adam, once lifeless clay, became alive through God’s breath. The painting portrays life flowing from God into creation—light illuminating the garden, sustaining all things. It reveals that life does not originate from creation itself, but from the breath that sustains it. Eden is not just a place, but a state of being—where we bloom by remaining rooted in God. Where His breath is present, life flourishes; without it, all returns to stillness.

The motivation behind Neshama came from a deep reflection on the origin of life and what it truly means to be alive. I was drawn back to the beginning—“take us back, back to the beginning, before the noise, the striving, before the forgetting”—where creation was formless and void, yet God was present, hovering with intention. In that emptiness, He did not see lack, but a canvas—full of purpose, vision, and beauty waiting to be revealed.

This perspective shaped the heart of the piece. God spoke, and creation responded. Light came forth, order was established, and everything became His masterpiece. But what struck me most was man—formed, yet lifeless. “Adam… not breathing, not moving, not alive… just clay.” Until God breathed into him. The Neshama—the divine breath—transformed dust into a living being. That moment became the foundation of this work.

Through this painting, I wanted to express that we are no different without that same breath. “We only live because God breathed into us.” The garden represents more than a place; it reflects a state of being—where life flows, where everything blooms because it is sustained by God.

Neshama is both a reminder and a call—to return to the source of life, to awaken, and to live fully in the breath that was given to us. This is where we bloom.

Previous
Previous

Resilience

Next
Next

Neshama (Abide in the Vine)