Mixed media oilgraph on canvas with blood // 36” x 36"

Jesus, having grown weaker, falls again. Simon tries to now genuinely help but cannot for the unyielding whip of the soldier.

“Leather razors
The knives of eyes
and the thunder of wood and knees
to stone

So far to go...
impossible
and everywhere a serpent
screaming in the air

(Simon?
Mother?
Who is shouting?)

Dull thuds echo in your ears
Ribs open to the howling sky

(I AM
on fire
I AM...)

A thousand red wet eyes
stare up from the earth

(It’s raining...
Not a cloud in the sky
What is raining?)”

***

This was the first Station to startle me when it was completed. I wasn’t prepared for how violent the sky would turn out until I was done blending the oil paint. To increase the presence of the whip, I composited three different takes so it appeared that the whip was “everywhere.”

Before I began painting I decided to cover the soldier’s face with a helmet because I felt the actor didn’t look mean enough.

CAST
JESUS: Paolo Durrazzo
SOLDIER: Cameron Church
SIMON: Howard Karesh