September, 1984

Ira:          This tableau of Christian symbolism takes the form of a mystical passion play .   I do not understand my subconscious mind.  I do not fully understand this picture, I do not fully understand any of our pictures, if I did I would not waste my time painting them.

Corliss:          Painting "Discus Christ" I focused on the red Madonna, imagining her life.  How would I feel if told I was to bear God's child? 

     I have placed a female figure on the Madonna's lap to distance the viewer's thoughts from the death of Christ, to the more universal loss of a child.  This pain in itself, is devestating; the thought that one's child had suffered in dying is more than I want to think much less feel.

Commentary from exhibition at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.