On our trip to Maine this summer, EF, Brent, and I drove past Holy Cross Catholic Church in South Portland, and the mural on the front was striking. It turns out parishioners didn’t love it at first and even had a tree planted to hide it; then in 2020, the tree was taken down.
Artist John Laberge was commissioned to create the piece, and the steel-and-ceramic mural was installed in 1980. This interview with him is helpful. In part:
Here he is, he’s on the verge of dying, on the verge of letting go — and he’s nailed on the cross. He’s in extreme pain. For people to think that should be a pretty Christ — they really [don’t get] the whole idea of crucifixion…
…The committee I worked with said they did not want a pretty aesthete. They wanted a working-class Christ, a regular Joe. The original [committee] and myself were satisfied with the final product but I didn’t give it an A+ — but as it stands, and lasts longer and longer, my admiration for it grows.
