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his book is an examination of the painting I call THE MAN OF SORROWS, a revelation of the hidden truths about Jesus Christ and an Illumination of the Christian iconography which formed a base from which my own artistic pathology grew. THE MAN OF SORROWS is based upon my research into the early Christian writings known as The Apocrypha which are stories that were stricken from the New Testament because they clashed with the view of Jesus that the church wished to perpetrate. Also I have used Pagan and Jewish anti-Christian accounts of Jesus written soon after his death. And finally the various contradictions of the four Gospels of the Bible.

"Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy" F. Scott Fitzgerald
I was raised an Irish Catholic and lived across the street from a cemetery. The themes of morality, disease, suffering, masochism, sadism and violence in my work can be traced to my childhood experiences and an early fascination with the Bible. Many of my first sexual thoughts were inspired by the violent and sexy stories fom the Bible. I experienced alot of fear and confusion about The Bible, but one thing was becoming clear: there was something holy about violence and suffering. My earliest efforts at art were pencil drawings of the stations of the cross interspersed with images of burnings and stabbings that I did around the age of eight. I used a bright red crayon to color the blood in. My introduction to painting came through a book about Hieronymous Bosch which had tip-in color plates of details of his paintings (much like the book you are now holding) THE MAN OF SORROWS is my tribute to Bosch who I feel a strong kinship with. I can understand Bosch's struggle to control and define the forces of the Dark Ages. It is Modern Art that I have trouble understanding. How can anyone feel so comfortable and well-adjusted with the chaos of existence that they could express it with a splash of paint or a simple aesthetic concept? Like Bosch, my fear is too great. I need to clarify it, border it and surround it with icons and charms to protect me from it.From the beginning art was a way for me to render visible the visceral reality of experience. Even when my paintings had no direct religious subject, they functioned like religion to help me come to terms with the chaotic and unjust nature of existence.
JOB | CONCEPTION | BIRTH | JOHN THE BAPTIST | CHILDHOOD
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