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THE RETURN OF JONAH
John Wehrle (jwehrle@inreach.com)
About the Painting
The Return of Jonah is a five and a half by fourteen foot narrative oil painting on stretched canvas. The work was originally commissioned in 1980 by Thomas J. White and Kary Mullis for their scientific laboratory at Cetus corporation in Emeryville, Ca.
Since the company had been named for the constellation and the mammal, the idea of incorporating a whale into the image arose naturally during the creative process. And as the painting was conceived during a period of public concern about genetic engineering and cloning, it also seemed thematically natural to interweave a familiar allegory of social responsibility and live bait fishing into the visual narrative. In popular versions of the Jonah story the great fish was transmuted into a whale, which provided aready made corporate imprimatur for the new morality play.
In the painting we see the new Jonah in his lab coat, fresh from the belly leaping onto the international orange railing of the Golden Gate bridge. He has returned to warn the people, save the day, fulfill his ethical directive. As befitting this momentous occasion, the bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic. Only a few nature sensitive pedestrians and human powered conveyances are spectators to the pagentry of the prophets's return.
The painting was later purchased by Cetus and moved to the entrance lobby. Today the work sits in the foyer as property of Chiron corporation.
About the Artist
John Wehrle is the creator of many site-specific public paintings. His works grace libraries, banks, building exteriors, and freeway walls. Born in Texas, John has degrees from Texas Tech and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He has lived and worked in California most of his adult life. A former teacher, army combat artist, and builder, he has been painting murals in the Golden State for over twenty years. In addition to Return of Jonah, major works include:
Galileo,Jupiter, Apollo a 207 foot mural painted for the1984 Olympics.
Scribes an extensiveinstallation for the LA Mid-valley public library.
Revisionist History a freeway mural for the city ofRichmond, Ca.
Positively Fourth Street painted on the outside of De Young Museum
in 1976.
John is currently working on a ceramic tile mural for the city of Bakersfield.