Under the leaves

He is not looking into the camera but up, at the leaves. It is how someone stands who is still amazed by what he made himself. Only in this photo do you see how big For the Love of God is. The wall runs all the way around the court, and Francis Sling is a small figure in front of it, in a white shirt against the blue. Behind him the great branch winds through the frame from left to right, past pink flowers and hummingbirds. Even the basketball hoop has been taken into the painting: the sports court was not painted away, it is part of the work. Above it, metal leaves in pink, yellow and orange reach out against the sky. They turn a flat wall into a space: whoever stands on the court stands under a canopy. For the Love of God is about the moment love created everything. That Francis painted it on a sports court, a place where people gather to play, makes it a wall to stand inside, not just to look at.