Now, what is the phrase I'm looking for? "That is some heavy s--t" would pretty much cover it... ^_^ It's not like I can relate to the piece in some personal way, perhaps that is why I like it so much though.

I came across this one in the voting booth and was very impressed by it. It makes my imagination run riot conjuring up all kinds of scenarios that led to this image. Your intro and the link are very interesting although they don’t provide any answers to the thinking that led to the creation of this image. I’m a little puzzled, Did you photograph a painting?

this is very intersting

I guess anyone who had spent that much time in hell would have a lot of images to get rid of. Art is a marvelous catharsis. I was going to thank you for sending this, but even though I feel that I've been enlightened through this presentation, it's not a comfortable feeeling at all.

PJ

i enjoy images that tend to actually say something - it makes your mind wander into the piece, kinda taking the rest of you along with it. this isnt one of those pieces that you look at and think, "that's really pretty - how nice." It's not that at all - pretty or nice. Much more than that. thanks for sharing your find.

NOT sure what to think about this one, being uninformed. My first thought was sacreligious, before reading your intro. Now, I'm still not sure.

Personally, I think it is far from being sacrilegious. It is presenting a very powerful message, on what the holocaust (and our sins for that matter) did to Christ.

Yeah, I too was somewhat wary at first of the artist perhaps being sacreligious (not with this piece but others), but upon seeing other pictures in the artist's gallery I could see that he was definitely not being sacreligious and that his faith is the only thing that has helped him cope with himself and his experiences in Auschwitz. The story on how he was able to survive all five years there is rather poignant... his job at the camp was to cart the dead corpses from the gas chambers to the cremetorium... one day he recognized his best friend among the bodies. Totally in shock he then proceeded to very solemnly move his friend's body to the cremetorium. He was not able to speak or eat for three days, but he then realized that he actually LOVED somebody and that was what made him human and gave him the strength to go on. He also knew St. Maximilian Kolbe and did many paintings of him as well.

This picture however speaks alot to me personally, being a Christian this painting has great spiritual profundity for me. I totally agree with Winter night. This work of art is of great value to the entire humanity, not only on a spiritual level but also as it portrays human sufferring which is something the can either give strength to the human spirit or break it. The Solemn expression on the Christ's face shows one that suffering can be turned into great power and an enriching treasure when it is accepted as a part of life.

Very interesting and indeed very sobering.

Stan