Study for a Crucifixion I, II, III

Artist Hughie O'Donoghue (b. 1953)

Date1996

MediumCarborundum on paper

Dimensions206 x 106 cm (each)

ClassificationsPrint

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Purchased, 1997. © Hughie O'Donoghue.

Object number1906

DescriptionHughie O'Donoghue revels in the fact that art is no longer constrained by the Church, the state or is merely a method of recording events. He seeks to create an image of reality, a picture that "authentically corresponds with its subject and with the painter's own sense of the truth." His subject matter is taken from the inhumanity of man throughout the ages: massacres, wars and torture. These three etchings are primarily concerned with the depiction of the human figure subjected to an appalling form of punishment. The bodies are mutilated with black striations hiding all but the most dominant physical features, and these slashes in many places develop into wounds. Each body is surrounded by black, the arms are cut by the picture's edge and only parts of the legs remain visible, while the heads are utterly indistinguishable thus making the images universal, these could be anyone. The artist wants the viewer to experience the feeling of vulnerability, to consider the humiliation and the knowledge of impending death that a victim of crucifixion would feel and at the same time the thoughts of the onlookers when they realise how fortunate they are not to be hanging on a cross.

This is a collograph print (carborundum) on paper.

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