This is a work that is a quote from the fantastic El Greco painting in the Lehman section of the Met. I would go there on lonely afternoons, and enjoy all the works, but also sometimes would have a "moment" with this painting which seems so alive, with his eyes so emblazoned with devotion, and the weight of the cross both heavy and light in his arms. I wanted to try to learn from the master, and also channel my own energies into this work, learning from the Master. It seems to me that El Greco, coming from the Byzantine painting tradition that really felt that the entities they were painting were being channeled and that you could converse with them in the meditation of the prayer of paint, that he was so engulfed and overwhelmed with feeling that he could project these same passions into his figures to make them so animated. I was going through much when I painted this, and although I’m not religious per se, I’m a spiritual person, and did my best to purge myself of feelings for all that this image could represent while I painted it, to feel as comforted as I do when sitting on the sofas of Lehman wing, taking in this work, looking into his eyes looking up to Heaven.