2017 was a challenging year for me. As it certainly has been for millions of people.
I had to deal with my creative passion and take yet another leap in the dark into a new, disturbing present.
Via Crucis – Passion of the Christ:the great kermesse of the son of man that represents the eternal experience of death and resurrection.
The perfect metaphor for that moment.
JUST ONE STEP AWAY FROM MADNESS
The ‘Via Crucis’ is a fundamental rite of Holy Week, consisting of 14 scenes.
Therefore it’s an ancient ‘performative’ art and, at the same time, an ‘ante litteram’ comic strip, or at least I mean it that way.
To create the 14 images of the project that I dedicated to it, I employed a technique for role-taking and complete identification: that of the ‘Spiritual Exercises’ created by Ignatius of Loyola.
This method aims to eliminate the distance between the person who practices spiritual meditation and its subject. If practised correctly, subject and object will overlap and merge inextricably.
A real madness.
A GOODBYE LETTER?
In the second scene, Jesus takes up his Cross. He has no regrets; he is ready to walk that path of pain, and nothing will stop him.
He did what he did. And he would do it again, forever. He wants to leave a trace, an indelible mark.
And the end of the story won’t be goodbye.
THE PLOWERS PLOWED UPON MY BACK: THEY MADE LONG THEIR FURROWS (BOOK OF PSALMS 129)
Words have a ‘weight’ and a sound and graphic form. They are essential traces. Someone carries that words’ weight imprinted on his skin and flesh.
I represented it with signs written on paper. I wrote what I wrote, and I have not regretted doing it ( quod scripsi, scripsi ).
SE PAREBA BOVES, ALBA PRATALIA ARABA…
The sentence taken from Psalm 129 reminded me of one of the oldest texts of the Italian language, ‘The Veronese Riddle’ by an anonymous author dating back to the eighth or ninth century.
The parallel is evident: they both speak about plowed fields and furrows but of a different nature.
And in both cases, what matters most is the seed and the crop.
STANLEY KUBRICK, WHO ELSE?
I consider Stanley Kubrick one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. I could not resist the temptation to insert a quote, even if indirect, to one of his cinematographic masterpieces.
… ‘ All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ‘…
If you want to have information on the dimensions, print supports, editions and prices of this image, click on the button below.