This painting was inspired by Caravaggio’s Incredulity of Saint Thomas from the beginning of the 17th century. While I’d learned of the painting in art school when I was studying Baroque & Rococo paintings, its meaning didn’t really hit me until I heard Terence McKenna describe his interpretation of John 20:25-29, which is paraphrased below:
After the crucifixion, Christ appeared several times to the apostles, but Thomas missed his first appearance. When Thomas showed up, the apostles said, “the master was here.” Thomas called bullshit, adding that unless he puts his hand into the wound, he won’t believe it. After a while, Christ came by again to the upper room, with Thomas there among the other apostles. And Christ said, ‘Thomas, come forward, put your hand into the wound.” And he did. Now, the conclusion that I draw from this story is: alone of all human beings in human history, Thomas, the doubter, touched the incorporeal resurrected body of Christ. Only the doubter was allowed that privilege. For everybody else, the show.
It’s painted on a 36″ x 26″ piece of watercolour paper, using acrylic gouache, acrylic ink and graphite. Those yummy brushstrokes were done with chunky Molotow markers, which are also responsible for the hot pink in Christ’s wound. What follows the details are 3D mockups built in 3ds max and rendered in Corona.
