Crucifixion

James Kasper had few suggestions for the content of our art, and no requirements. There were two things he requested for this drawing. One was that the townspeople be ignoring the crucifixion, going about their lives as usual. After all, there were crucifixions pretty often. A woman with a crying baby, some chickens pecking at the ground, people socializing, a shop owner or two. It’s not a large crowd and I left out some important figures. There are only three observers for this crucifixion: a child on a roof, a bird, and a cherub.

The other suggestion was that those being crucified be nude. This was hard for me. I kept hearing my Sunday school teacher from the 1960s telling me not to do it. In the end, I drew Christ with a Cubist influence. Picasso and Braque often depicted people from multiple viewpoints at once — front, right, left — all in the same composition. Because Jesus is viewed in many ways by believers and non-believers, I thought Cubism was appropriate….and it minimized the nudity.