The Illumined Heart, 2024

30  x  30  in. on canvas

The Illumined Heart is the centerpiece of the New Book of Kells series, an artistic journey through light, devotion, and transformation, inspired by the breathtaking beauty of medieval illuminated manuscript covers.

In this work, Michael Green delves into the profound continuity he’s exploring between 9th-century Celtic art and the artistic traditions of the Near East and South Asia. These cultures share a common language of symmetries, rhythmic patterning, and symbolic motifs that resonate across time and geography.

Green reimagines iconic Celtic art through the lens of India and Tibet, where art is seen as a meditative practice, where the process of creating a mandala is a form of healing and centering.

He also integrates the sacred geometry of Islamic art, expressed through intricate geometric patterns that reflect a belief in a cosmos ordered by elegant, divine mathematical principles.

In Sufi wisdom, the inner heart is the sacred meeting place where the separate self merges with the Divine Beloved, like a moth vanishing into a candle’s flame.

This union is realized through a miraculous turning, where the heart, once inclined downward toward earthly forms, turns on an invisible axis of divine love and generosity to face upward, embracing full illumination and absorption. As Rumi says, “A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home." In this turning, hearts awaken to the soul’s profound connection with all things.

Inspired by the meticulous artistry of the Celtic monks, this original mixed-media piece brings ancient reverence into a modern medium. Created with digital pens and paintbrushes, the work is printed with pigment inks on cotton canvas and then hand-finished with:

• Natural earth and mineral pigments

• Genuine gold leaf

• Crystals and ethically sourced gemstones