I thought I would share some insight on the inspiration for a recent piece I finished – “Ecce Homo”. A part of my painting process includes the names for paintings and the inspiration behind it. My philosophy is, that every single painting should have a meaning. I get my inspiration mostly from history, literature, religion, poems and things I might accidentally come across. This process helps me to create a special piece and it breaths life in to the painting, it creates its soul. I feel more attached to a painting if it tells a story.
This painting “Ecce Homo” was originally inspired by the work of well-known German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who was famous for his insanity and controversy. Thomas Wayne; in his introduction to Ecce Homo (How one becomes what one is) describes Nietzsche’s writing style as “The language dances, prances, whirls and twirls; it ranges from ghetto-verbalizations and vulgarizations to high art, from lyricism to sardonicism, from satyr-play to passion play. No one really writes like Nietzsche.” In Ecce Homo Nietzsche constructed a genius-hero whose life is a chronicle of incessant self-overcoming, characterized by titles as “Why I Am So Wise”, “Why I Am So Clever”, “Why I Write Such Good Books” and “Why I Am a Destiny”.
But, there is another important meaning behind the painting and which gave me the main inspiration for the piece. The actual translation of the words ‘Ecce Homo’ are – ‘Behold the Man’. These were the words used by Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus Christ bound and crowned with thorns to a hostile crowd.
My head is full of ideas and hopefully they will find their way onto canvas. I hope you found this insight into how I paint interesting, hopefully it will inspire you!