Transcript for:
Exploring the Portrait of God Painting

What does God look like? I'm going to show you a painting, or rather, a photograph of a painting. Just take a moment and stare at it. What do you see? If the answer is nothing, if it just looks black to you, don't worry, that's what I see too. But that's not what everyone sees. The painting I've chosen for this project is titled "Portrait of God". While most viewers see nothing, some insist they see a person in the darkness. One they can describe and draw out with consistent details. It's a man, or, close to a man. You know, wrinkled, skinny. Really skinny. He looks skinny. He's smiling. He's grinning. He smiles down at us. Almost looks like the corners of his mouth got smudged. Almost like he's wearing a mask. It's-- it's too wide... ... and his eyes. He's looking down with love. His eyes are big. They're big. They've got this glint in them. This speckle of light to them. Honestly, it's unsettling. Of course it's frightening, that kind of power should be. I don't like looking at it... I don't like it. It's beautiful... Maybe it's just a trick of the light, maybe they're seeing something they want to see. But how are their descriptions so consistent? Maybe they really are having a religious experience. And... why does God appear to them and not us? What does God look like? I'm going to show you a painting, or rather, a photograph of a painting. Just take a moment to stare at it. What do you see?